Diary of a Fair Weather Diver

Teaser Tuesday - Twigs

2013-05-21T07:36:00.000-06:00

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by… MizB of ‘Should Be Reading’. Anyone can take part, by just doing the following:

Grab your current read.
Open to a random page.
Share a couple of “teaser” sentences, from somewhere on that page.
Be careful not to share “spoiler” sentences.
Remember to share the title and author too.
Head on over to ‘should be reading’ and leave a link to your post, so that others can share it and you can share other peoples'.

Twigs by Alison Ashley Formento

Synopsis

They call her “Twigs,” because she’ll never hit five feet tall. Although she was born early, and a stiff breeze could knock her over, Twigs has a mighty spirit. She needs it, as life throws a whole bucket of rotten luck at her: Dad’s an absentee drunk; Mom’s obsessed with her new deaf boyfriend (and Twigs can’t tell what they’re saying to each other). Little sister Marlee is trying to date her way through the entire high school; Twigs’ true love may be a long-distance loser after a single week away at college, and suddenly, older brother Matt is missing in Iraq. It all comes together when a couple of thugs in a drugstore aisle lash out, and Twigs must fight to save the life of the father who denied her. (Goodreads)

Dink hounded me nonstop about being late. "We discussed this when you were hired." His greasy mustache wiggled whenever he scolded me, which happened a lot - pg 1568 of 3127 (ebook)

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog).

My New Follow Buttons! - Mingle Monday

2013-05-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday Everyone!
I'm starting a new schedule at work today with some new responsibilities today, and I'm pretty happy about it. My new schedule is 8a-2p M-H. That's right, I have Fridays off!
Now, this schedule is simply perfect for my school schedule. Of course, since I couldn't afford my summer class this year (I may still be mad about that) I need to figure out how to accept a lighter work schedule. I have tons of projects that I want to work on, like this blog, so I'm sure that I will fill the time. One of the major things that I want to do though is build my presence as a Freelancer, which takes up a ton of time.

Oh, and I'm sure the boys would love it if I actually left the house and we did a little hiking. They've been a little mopey this weekend since it has rained the entire time. I can't really complain about the rain as it has:

Given me an excuse to stay inside, play video games, screw with my blog, write, and chill
Watered my lawn so that I don't have to set up our makeshift sprinkler system
Reduced the cottonwood seed invasion.

I was just looking back through some of my old posts, which was kind of weird and fun, and was surprised that I didn't have a rant about cottonwood season. That's amazing as I honestly talk about nothing but my hatred of cottonwood season about 4 months of the year. I don't think you have to by psychic to see that post in the near future.

Back to the title of this post! Obviously, it's Mingle Monday! If you haven't been over to visit her, go see Meg. (After you leave me some sweet comment lovin' of course!)

Plus, I stopped by some new hops today. Go check them out!

As we all know, good old GFC is on its way out the door. I have a few new ways to follow me and have redecorated my sidebar to make life a little easier. Here are some of the pretty new buttons I made this weekend!

Follow on Networkedblogs

Follow on Bloglovin'

Follow on Linky Followers

Please Please Please let me know if any of the links on these don't work! I will love you forever!

What are you excited about this week?

Married Life..

2013-05-20T00:49:00.000-06:00

Now that I don't have homework to focus on, I've noticed this going on a bit too much for my liking. In fact, tonight K spent several hours "running back to *his* body."

Have you run in to this with your person? Do you think they'll ever grow out of it?

Hey GFC Friends! I want to keep reading you!

2013-05-19T11:50:00.000-06:00

Hi My GFC Friends!

I was looking for some kind of sad GFC is going away picture. When I searched, this is what I found.

Have you ever tried bacon maple bars? They are actually really tasty if the bacon is bite sized,....

OK, back on topic. I'm moving on from Google Reader to Blog Lovin'. Please let me know if you have a better suggestion as I'm not a huge fan.

I think the standard follow widgets are really really ugly, so I made my own.....

Follow on Networkedblogs

Follow on Bloglovin'

Follow on Linky Followers

Please Please Please let me know if any of the links on these don't work! I will love you forever!

Anyway, I have a big blog roll and I don't really want to search through and weed out all of the dead blogs in there. So... If you know that I read your blog or want me to read your blog, please leave me a comment below!

Besides, I love comments. They make me do my happy dance.

Plus, over the next few weeks, I want to feature some of my favorite blogs. Friends are fun right?

First Friday of Freedom

2013-05-17T10:07:00.001-06:00

My finals are finished.
My work week is over.
I don't have summer classes.

I have no idea what to do with myself!

I guess I get a summer vacation this year (as in only working) and today is the first day that I have sat down and thought hey, I don't have to do any homework. I'm even caught up on a bunch of the random tasks that have been hanging over my head, like changing my name on my credit cards since I got married last year...

Of course, I could start on the mountain of book reviews that I need to get done. But really, I think I might reward myself with a little Starcraft II and then go see

Yeah, I'm a bit of a Trekkie, plus I do love Sherlock....

What are you up to this weekend?

Also, hello all you blog hoppers! I stopped by

Where have you been?

PS. I just added a few new ways to follow since Google Reader is going the way of the dino and I have no idea what is up with GFC. If you have any suggestions for me, let me know!

/facepalm

2013-05-14T23:36:00.001-06:00

I had an accounting final tonight, and it super duper sucked.

I spent about 2.5 hours working on 11 questions, thought I did pretty well, and wandered off.

About 30 minutes later, I noticed that I got an email from the professor advising me that I had only gotten 20 pts out of 110 and that I should probably try again.

I start working on it again, and realized I don't even know where I've gone right or wrong.

My prof tells me to call him and attempts to help me through the dense fog between me and any kind of correct answer.

I have to say, he really really tried to help me.

I ended up slipping v2 of the final in two minutes before the deadline. Now I get to wait until tomorrow to see if I managed to fix anything at all....

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

2013-05-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis
Mae is the the perfect government enforcer, following the rules and stamping out religion whenever it pops up. However, all of this changes when she is assigned to protect Justin, an investigator that was exiled after he found a secret that the government wanted hidden. Will Mae and Justin be able to uncover the cause of a string or mysterious killings? Or will they just become pawns between a religion hating government and the gods that are tired of being ignored?

Review
I was so excited to read this book. I love Richelle Mead and honestly, Mae is one of my all time favorite names. Richelle managed to weave a technologically strong dystopian society with magic in a manner that was engaging and amazing. She obviously is setting up for a series, but the novel also works well as a stand alone novel. She has a very strong mythos growing behind the society, and it will be very exciting to see if the characters will eventually consent to work with the gods that keep trying to influence them.

My Recommendation

I love the worlds that Richelle Mead creates, and I can't wait to read more about this one. I give it 4/5 - I really liked it.

For more information about the ratings system, please click here.

***FTC Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review, no other compensation was given, all opinions are my own***

Finals, GAG

2013-05-13T18:15:00.000-06:00

I should be studying for my accounting final tomorrow, but I can't seem to do it. At this moment I am living in total fear of it.... so here you go.

Allie Brosh / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Speaking of which, did you know that Hyperbole and a Half is posting again? Go check her out and give her some love!

Okey Dokie, I'm off to take my text book out to the porch Maybe I just need a change of location to get this rolling....

Was that a tumbleweed?

2013-04-15T03:29:00.003-06:00

This place is barren of life (and comments, I need some luv guys!). I just realized that I haven't posted much beyond book reviews lately.

At least I have a good excuse for the last few weeks. I have been out of town, my grandmother had a stroke. I hung out with her until she decided it was time to go hang out with her husband on the big ski hill in the sky. Then I helped my family plan her celebration of life, wrote obituaries, and just did a bunch of random stuff. I'm out of grandparents now, so I shouldn't have to do this stuff again for a while.

I am actually working on a fun post right now for you, but I keep getting sucked into my new crack:

It is what Diablo 3 should have been. Plus, it's free! You should try it! Click the picture above for more information.

Oh, plus I'm still doing the super icky apply for jobs/ look for more freelance work game. YUCK! And I still have not received a decision on my unemployment benefits. I've been laid off for two months as of today, and I've just been moved into the "hardship" line as opposed to the "laid off and somehow have money" line that everyone starts out in. Hopefully they will do something soon, racking up credit card debt is something I never ever wanted to do. Unfortunately, it seems that unemployment = credit card debt. As in no income means you need the card to buy groceries and pay your bills. UGGGGGG!

Give me some comment love! I need it!

If you are stopping by from Mingle Monday, Hi! If you would like to follow me, please remember that GFC is going the way of the dinosaur. I recommend an email subscription or Networked Blogs or something. I don't have a new favorite yet...

ARC Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

2013-03-26T09:41:00.000-06:00

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis
This is the story of how the invincible Travis "Mad Dog" Maddox was brought to his knees by a girl with grey eyes.

Review
I picked this up and didn't want to put it down! If you've read Beautiful Disaster, you were already half in love (if not more) with Travis. This will push you over the top. The only issue that I really had with this novel was that neither you or Travis actually understand why he is so crazy for Abby. It's possible that being unattainable could cause this kind of devotion, but it's unlikely.
Like in Beautiful Disaster, Travis walked a very tight line between being abusively controlling and and "dangerously in love." Some of his weird behavior from Abby's novel were finally explained, but as since Travis usually has no idea what in the world is going on, you don't either.
This is not a stand alone novel. The plot glosses over some of the major events covered in Beautiful Disaster, but it does work very well as a companion novel. I was also happy to see the epilogue, it added to what could have simply been a retelling.
I still love the cover!

My Recommendation
I picked it up and didn't put it down until I was done. If you liked Beautiful Disaster, you'll like this one too. I give it 4/5 - I really liked it

***FTC Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review, no other compensation was given, all opinions are my own***

You make me get up at 6 am and try to scam me?

2013-03-21T08:59:00.001-06:00

As I think I've implied, Freelancing is crazy.
Today, I had yet another interview for a job (these are common) however, I had a weird feeling about it.
First, the guy got online 45 minutes late. Then, his responses were very weird.
When he emailed me the job offer, there were a few things in it that were just a bit too good to be true.

BRIEFING SUMMARY

*You will have to be online from 9am to 12pm daily for training programs as you will be given series of tasks during training.

*You will resume work fully after training and your working hours will be 8am - 2pm your time zone.

*Whether or not you have an assignment or task to carry out you will be paid for $20/hr and for 6hrs a day as long as you are online during the stated hours. This does not happen in the freelance world. No one pays you to not work.

*There is no start up cost, the training would be administered on line, this is an Internet based position, and the base pay is $20 per hour. The start up cost was what really tipped me off. Why would a legit company even mention that?

*Either party is free to terminate at any time with notice.

*Benefits include: 401k, health and dental, paid vacation and 2 weeks sick leave you will be enrolled for this benefits after 2 months after which you would become a regular employee of company. Once again, doesn't happen in this world.

WORKING EQUIPMENT

Equipment will be provided for you by the Company asap. This includes a Hp Laptop/Notebook for mobility and some other software for accuracy, Speed of data processing, Time Monitoring and Effectiveness,(4 in one Zebra ZM 400 Bar code Printer and Cards,Fax Machine,Scanner,Photocopier Machine, 4 Drawer Cabinet and Office Desk). Details on the Uses and delivery of these equipment would be provided to you ASAP. This was the final straw. There is no company that would actually send me all new equipment. Part of the deal with freelancing is companies avoid all of these expenses by outsourcing.

I checked out the company, and they were a real company. However, since I was feeling a bit weird about it still, I called the company to verify that they guy I was talking to was legit. They, of course, said that they had never heard of him before. Here is his response.

Mei: How can I verify that this is a legitimate offer?

jobofferdesk20: I understand your fears and worries. I can give you a call later today to speak with you directly

Mei: Great, your work for CCI out of their PA office, right?

jobofferdesk20: Right. I work from home

Mei: I called their office and was told that they do not employ anyone by your name.

jobofferdesk20: Yes the reason is because we ran into a scam scheme late last year by someone hacking into our data base account

jobofferdesk20: So they thought you were calling to steal infos from our representatives

jobofferdesk20: That is why you were told that

jobofferdesk20: But not to worry about that okay ?

Mei: Hahaha, yeah, no. Thanks for the offer, but this is completely a scam. Have a nice day!

With that, he logged out. I Googled part of the offer, and it was listed all over the internet as a scam. My hubby let me know that he thought I had done good detective work for the day. I'm just pissed that I had to get up at 6 am for this. I could still be sleeping right now! Ugg.

Most Likely to Succeed by Kate Davies

2013-03-21T08:07:00.000-06:00

Most Likely to Succeed by Kate Davies
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Synopsis
Kelsey Moore is embarrassed to still be working at her family's flower shop when her 10 year high school reunion. The only thing that could draw her to the event is the hope of seeing her high school crush, Nathan Barrow.

Review
This novel felt short and light. None of the characters were really explored, this made the story feel like a light romp. Unfortunately, it also meant that I was never able to actually get into the story. The plot was very quick, and I had expected a bit more something.

My RecommendationIt was a fun, very light read. I give it 3/5 - Good, but not something I would repeat

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

2013-03-18T16:23:00.000-06:00

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Synopsis
Hazel spends her time tethered to an oxygen tank and occasionally attending the cancer survivors support group. She may be alive following her battle with lung cancer, but she's not actually living. All of that changes on day when she sees a new guy staring at her in group. Augustus is also a survivor and forces her to change her views on sickness and living.

Review
This book is sad, I can't really state that enough. As usual, I jumped into this book without reading the description and then spent several hours crying as I made my way through the book. I don't know if I was having an emotional day or if this is seriously the saddest book ever. In my opinion, the emotion that the middle of the book wrung out of me overwhelmed the actual story. I also felt like the last 5th of the book just kind of lost its momentum. There was so much buildup, and then it kind of petered out.
The characters are pretty strong and feel like they could actually be real. I also appreciated that there wasn't an immediate love, or any kind of normal love triangle. The reality of the story may lose some of the younger readers that are used to the fluffy paranormal books that are running around today, and that would be a shame. This is certainly the first YA book that I have read in a long time that evoked an emotion.

My Recommendation
If you are in need of a good cry, go for it! I give it 3/5 - Good, but not something I would repeat

Happy little green man day!

2013-03-17T11:05:00.001-06:00

I started my St. Paddy's day early, when I started our corned beef at 2;30 am. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to record it, so here ya go!

What do you do after 1:30 am?

2013-03-17T01:57:00.002-06:00

Yeah, I'm totally in PJs

Meg is getting married!

2013-03-04T14:32:00.003-07:00

On Mondays, I like to participate in Meg's Mingle Mondays. This week is pretty exciting for her, she's getting married. In honor of this, I'd like to pass on a few things that I learned at my own wedding.

Try to relax. The day will be over before you know it, so relax and enjoy it.
A little bit of drama is good. If it starts to get out of hand, sic your bridesmaids on it. Believe me, your bridesmaids can and will handle everything.
Try to find and kiss your husband at least once an hour. For some reason, you will constantly get pulled away from him.
Make sure you have some time off together after the wedding. We didn't, and it's my biggest regrets about that time.
Have fun! You made it!

** What is your favorite stress reliever? ** My favorite stress reliever is getting a professional massage at a spa. I may be an utter tomboy, but I love spa treatments! Oh! I also found a new Monday blog hop. My weekend wasn't very exciting. I helped my good friend move at the end of last week. This weekend I just hung around the house and did some homework. I'm pretty lame, but when you don't have a job all week, the weekend is just another day. :p My husband did set up a webcam, now when he streams his video games, you can see him too. Unfortunately, it turns out that you can also hear my constant stream of dirty jokes. I just hope that no one that would care about my dirty mind watches the stream. LOL

Happy Monday!

Broken by A.E. Rought

2013-02-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Broken by A.E. Rought
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis

Emma's life fell apart the night she watched her boyfriend fell to his death. She is stumbling through life haunted by his ghost and memories when a new boy shows up to her school. Her attraction to him and the joy in his eyes when he meets her both upsets and intrigues her. She has to both fight her guilt about moving on from her boyfriend's death and try to open herself up to the alarming happiness offered by Alex. If she can survive getting to know him, the end result might be worth the risk.

Review

I stayed up until 3 am reading this book last night. While I figured out what the big secret was fairly early on, I still really enjoyed the story. I read a lot of retellings, but I haven't seen one done with Frankenstein before. I found the story to be interesting, though for a thriller or horror book, it was really lacking in the scary department.

I've seen a bunch of reviews likening this story to Twilight, but I honestly didn't really see the comparison. I am a Twilight hater, and if a novel has a bunch of similarities to that franchise, I usually notice. Emma fell into the "instant connection" trap, but for once there was an actual reason for it. Plus, it kinda made sense. She was a fairly strong and developed character, no sitting around wanting to die or waiting for someone to save her. She was walking around doing her thing and trying to move on with life.

If I had children, I would much rather have them read this than any of the Twilight books.

My Recommendation

I really enjoyed this story and stayed up way too late reading it. I give it 4/5 - I really liked it .

For more information about the ratings system, please click here.

View all my reviews What do you think?
Do you agree/disagree? Do you want to read it now? Or not? I love to hear(read) feedback!

Fields of Elysium by A.B.Whelan

2013-02-25T11:55:00.001-07:00

Fields of Elysium by A.B.Whelan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis

While on a hike with her dog Pandora, Molly happens upon a strange glowing blue cloud in a cave. She is sucked through the portal and tossed into a different cave on the other side. While exploring she discovers a group of boys who let her know that she is no longer on Earth, but a planet called New Earth.

Review

The novel was an interesting concept, one I haven't seen presented quite this way before. The writing was a bit odd, but that is easily explained by the fact that the author is not a native English speaker. A.B. Whelan has an amazing imagination, she has certainly developed a very complex and rich world. Though the book seems to be written for a younger audience, somewhere around early teens, it does tackle a few fairly serious topics, like teen pregnancy and abuse, but in a bit of a haphazard way.

My Recommendation

While I did enjoy the novel, it did get a bit preachy at the end and wrapped up a bit too cleanly. I give it 4/5 - I really liked it

For more information about the ratings system, please click here.

What do you think?
Do you agree/disagree? Do you want to read it now? Or not? I love to hear(read) feedback!

***FTC Disclosure: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review, no other compensation was given, all opinions are my own***

In which I become pregnant with a vampire baby

2013-02-22T11:31:00.002-07:00

Warning: This is more mature then my usual content and has terrible grammar. I'm sorry. Dreams don't use the right tense consistently.
I have probably mentioned it on here a few times, but I have a really hard time sleeping. I went to a sleep Dr and she told me that I run on so much adrenaline every day that it takes me hours and hours to come down each night enough to sleep. Her answer to this was to prescribe Klonipin. Well, I researched those pills since she told me that they were perfectly safe, even for pregnant women. Ummm, I'm really glad that I looked into it! It turns out that these pills are class "D" for pregnancy, that means it makes your baby deformed. Yeah that sounds like something I should put in my body... Plus, these pills are apparently highly addictive, can permanently change your brain chemistry, and are harder to get off of than heroin. HEROIN??? Why would she do that? And not tell me about it? Obviously, I will never go back to her.
OK, back to the actual post that I meant to write. I actually slept last night, and it resulted in a really weird ass dream that I managed to write down before I forgot it this morning. I have vivid dreams all of the time, but I don't usually take the time to write them down. So, here we go!

I was at Lagoon (an amusement park in Utah) with my husband and entire extended family, and we were sitting down to lunch. There was a show that was starting involving werewolves. We were fine with this until the werewolves started attacking the crowd and ripping their bodies into bloody chunks. It turns out that the show was a front for a slaughter and the werewolves were also there for lunch.
Everyone ran their separate ways. It was absolutely terrifying running for my life with bloody gory death flying around me. One of the creatures cornered me in a room. At some point around here, the werewolves turned into vampires. They were still into tearing people apart in a horrific manner, but now they had definite fangs.
The now possibly vampire that had trapped me told me that he would either kill the shit out of me, or I could give him head. Due to the fact that I did not want to get torn into a bunch of bloody pieces, I agreed, his man parts were fairly hairy, so I'm assuming he was still a were at this point. The dream then jumped to the vampire telling me that he wanted to marry me. (I must have been pretty good) I managed to negotiate the terms of the marriage, my family would be safe is I married him, got pregnant and then was turned into a vampire in the least painful way possible. It seems that there was no painless way to get turned into a vampire.
He let me go so he could get ready, or something, and I found my husband hiding in the back of a car. I told him the deal I made and he got really upset, but agreed that it was probably for the best. I went back to the vampire, we find and save my dog Maki, and then had sex. Even though he, umm, suffered from vertical diphallia, the sex was sub-par on both sides. We discussed if it would be better if we tried again, but he was so disappointed that he decided that he wasn't going to marry me. This resulted in me on the run trying to save my husband and family. My husband took off on some suicide mission to kill the vampire, or something, because he was so upset about my vampire "relations".
I somehow managed to secure a plane that you could sit inside or on the wings. My sister and cousin sat on one of the wings, I sat inside, and we took off in an attempt to find my family. We were low on gas, so we swooped into Costco - seriously in an airplane - and fueled up while hovering. We then zoomed out onto a snow mountainside where vampires were skiing down the slopes and humans were hiding in the woods. We picked up my mom, and she hopped in on my sister's wing. A few more people got inside and we had to all move around to balance the weight.
My dad was found in the woods. He hopped in the empty wing seat and pulled in two of my mom's friends. Unfortunately, the weight was too much and the wing snapped off of the plane. The last time I saw my dad, he was running back into the forest to hide. The good news is that the plane seemed to fly just fine with only one wing.
It was at this time, that I realized I was pregnant with a vampire baby. This really freaked me out because they are born with soft gums, but really sharp fangs that would bite my nipples when I breast fed it. We start trying to contact the vampire guy, whose name may have been Tim or something, and find his phone number in the vampire phone book. I called him on my cell (I needed to get turned into a vampire so that I could survive the pregnancy), but the call went straight to voice mail.
The plane then either crashed or ran out of gas because we were on the ground running towards this weird store in the woods called "Tiny Scooters". We broke in and someone said "wow, that's an accurate name" I really didn't understand why they said that as it looked like a church with pews inside. While I was trying to figure that out, we explored to the other side of the room. A door opened and a lady vampire walked into the building.
Then I woke up to the sound of my dog crying at my door.

I promise, the post is almost done! I just couldn't skip Friday Follow this week!

This weeks Question:

We always talk about books that WE want. Let’s turn it on its head. What books have you given other people lately?

I recently gave the Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger to my friend. I know I'm a grown up, but it's still one of my favorite all time books!

Back to my main topic, had any crazy dreams lately??

Oh look, a holiday!

2013-02-18T13:26:00.002-07:00

This Monday is a little bit exciting, since it's President's Day, my husband is home with me! YAY! No only do I get to hang with him, I also get to feel slightly less guilty about not having a job to go to today. :)

Usually my hubby would be volunteering at the President's Day Plunge, a fund raiser for our local Special Olympics where crazy townspeople jump into a frozen lake. Here's a picture from last year.

He's the one sitting on the ice cube. You know, the sexy one :)

This year, our holiday is a bit more mellow. I'm not entirely sure what we're doing yet, but since it's 1:26 pm I can't imagine we're doing a whole lot.

** What spring fashions are you looking forward to the most? **
I am such a fasionista that I am currently wearing a dirty shirt from two days ago and polka dotted PJ pants. (what can I say, I'm unemployed :p)
I've decided that this spring, the fashion I am most looking forward to is: No mud on paws and pants. That's right, I'm ready for the snow to melt and the ground to dry out. Now that I have some time, I really want to go hiking.
Plus, I really like to wear t-shirts with no coat. What exciting things!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Warm Bodies, Sexy Zombies, and a Letter to Bella

2013-02-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we seem to have made it to another Friday. This is unemployed day 2. Day one was just a little weird, I had a thousand ideas of what I wanted to get done. I tried to catch up on my school work, but since the lecture wasn't posted yet, I ended up just screwing around for most of the day. I didn't even unload the dishwasher. THEN, I felt guilty about not being productive all day. I still don't feel like I'm not going back to work on Monday, and when I think of the company, or that I no longer have a steady income, my anxiety gets going..... Ugg!
The fun news is that we made it to see Warm Bodies last night (thank you hubby). It was really fun, and it didn't just slaughter the book (which we loved). The only things that I missed from the book that weren't in the movie were R's wife and M's porn issues. But, I can see why those may not have worked.

This week's feature and follow has a pretty fun activity.

ACTIVITY: Write a letter to your favorite character. Rant, rave or gush…just pretend like they are real and you just want to let them know a “few things”. – Activity courtesy of author, Kelly Walker

OK, I thought and thought about this, and I want to turn this letter around, I want to write a letter to one of my least favorite characters of all time.

Bella,
What the hell is wrong with you? A man, or super sparkly vampire, leaves you and you decide that you are just going to lay down and die? And if that wasn't bad enough, you are going to try to kill yourself repeatedly so that you can hallucinate his face? NO MAN/VAMPIRE/WHATEVER IS EVER WORTH THAT.
You are your own person. That's right. You do not need to drop out of high school, marry your creepy pedo boyfriend and get to making babies. If he's going to make you immortal, take your damn time!
I despise you with all your worthless moping and despairing. You are a horrible, horrible example to young girls today and I hate that they read your stories. You need to grow a pair and learn how to stand on your own two legs. Seriously, I don't even know how you manage to feed yourself. Oh wait, half of the time you don't. UGGGG!
Sincerely,
Mei

V-Day Husband Trap

2013-02-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

This Valentine's Day, I thought it might be fun to subject my spouse to my blogging, so here we go! (If I can ever get him to actually answer the questions. He keeps taking the paper and setting it down before wandering off. Well, it turns out that the trick was to stand between him and Tosh.0 refusing to let him watch it until he answered my questions. :p )

Where was your first date?
DH: The Wok ME: That's true, at least when he tricked me into going on a date with him I got Chinese!
Where was your first kiss?
DH: Grant Chamberlain   ME: It was actually while sitting on the edge of my bed in graduate housing. He asked if he could kiss me, I said "I don't know" then ran out and asked my friends if I should let him. They said yes so I went back and let him :p
Who first said, "I love you"?
DH: I don't know, Let's watch Tosh.0 and not take this survey   ME: Yeah, it was totally him. He was really drunk one night (hey we were in college) and he just let is slip out. The funny part is that I don't remember if we were dating or not by that point.
What were your wedding colors?
DH: You're horrible, this sucks, you are making me look like a horrible, horrible person. They were green and tan damn it, I mean green and brown.   ME: They were brown and lime green... close enough.
What is her most commonly used phrase?
DH: *Shakes head* *refuses to speak* "Fuck"   ME: I don't know how true that is right now... I think it's more "Hey Kev" over and over again until he responds...
Who is her celebrity crush?
DH: Christian Bale   ME: Can't really deny that since my friend and I had a Christian Bale movie-a-thon yesterday.
If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get?
DH: You'd get me a beer and you'd get a vodka cranberry, I don't know   ME: I'd get him a Bozone Amber and either a LemonDrop Martini or a vodka cranberry depending on how cheap I was feeling that night.
What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?
DH: You cook?   ME: OMG, I cook every night, it's not my fault that you prefer Taco Bell to vegetables and whole grains...
What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you?
DH: I don't know   ME: There have been a few experiments that didn't turn out so well, like all of my attempts at making any kind of alfredo sauce for him. It's one of his favs and I don't really like it, but I kept trying, disaster after disaster. Now I just bring home takeout.
What is the most-played song on her iPod?
DH: Whatcha gonna do with all that junk, or something with Coldplay   ME: Since I listen to audiobooks all of the time, that's a really hard one. I really like glee's cover of the Scientist, or the soundtrack to Spring Awakening, or Death Cab for Cutie
What would she say is your most annoying habit?
DH: I don't know, I'm perfect   ME: He's a SLOB! I hate hate hate picking up after him!
What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?
DH: Complain about going to work the next day   ME: I would have gone with reading, since it takes me 2-3 hours to fall asleep every night, but I do tend to want to "talk about my feelings" when he's falling asleep.
If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be?
DH: All her shoes   ME: I guess he wants me barefoot in the kitchen or something, but then again, since I "don't cook" who knows. I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS CONNIE!
What would you say is your favorite thing about her?
DH: *He just noticed the title of this post... lol* Her sense of humor   ME: To be 100% honest, I really thought he would have gone with boobs.
What's her go-to drink at Starbucks?
DH: She goes through phases, but right now it's a decaf vanilla latte, but she thinks gingerbread lattes are the best.   ME: That's pretty close! It's a non-fat decaf latte with whatever flavor I'm feeling that day. The decaf is related to the insomnia discussed above.
What's her blog's name?!

DH: I know it's Diary of a Fair Weather Diver, but I was trying to think of something smart ass. ME: :p He was a pretty good sport about this!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you're having fun torturing those closest to you in honor of the day! We're probably off to dinner, or not, I have no idea. Maybe we'll get the chance to see Warm Bodies!!

What are your V-day plans??

One Reason I Don't Watch Commercials

2013-02-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

So, I was watching Catfish and bidding for freelance jobs tonight when I saw this damn Pizza Hut commercial. They advertised these little mini pizzas that were just too tasty to pass up. I actually went to the website while the commercial was still on and ordered them.

Seriously, how could I pass this up?

In my defense, it has been a very eventful day. I'm officially unemployed and we finally settled the damn dog at large court case. If you were wondering, it is cheaper to drive recklessly or throw a lit cigarette out of your car window than to have a dog chew through your fence and bite another dog.

While waiting for my mini pizzas to deliver, I watched the latest episode of Girls. I don't want to ruin the episode for you, but the main girl was naked the entire time. Again. Really, I never wanted to know what she looked like playing naked ping pong or in a steam shower. I keep trying, but I just don't like this show.

Well, the verdict is in. Those little pizzas were pretty damn tasty! Yum!

Infernal Eighteen Blog Tour and Guest Post

2013-02-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Random Thoughts from an Ex-Cat Girl

By Kitty Salem (http://hiddeninplainsightranch.tumblr.com)

So this is what a diver’s blog looks like, huh? Interesting. So I was asked to talk about pets and writing.

Pets and writing? Who’s writing what? Unless you’re talking about that poor transcriber who’s stuck in exile … I know he had some cats when he was writing.

I think that includes me.

There’s some perspective that you should know about me. I’m an ex-cat girl. That doesn’t mean that I was some furry burlesque dancer or a crazy cat lady, either: I was literally a cat girl. As in my body was equal parts human and cat.

I don’t think anyone who ever saw me thought I was some kind of perv sexual desire. I was too busy kicking their asses for them to get too worked up in that regard. Most of the cat girls you see around the Interwebs and such are the sexytime kinds, but that doesn’t give us enough credit. Cat girls have a lot of potential power in them, you just need to see past the kawaii-ness and look at what they have to offer.

What about their minds? Not every cat girl you see is a bubbleheaded bimbo. It’s just an unfortunate fact that most of the ones I’ve seen in the media are either too stupid for their own good or too busy making sexy poses to ever answer an intelligent question. Why doesn’t anyone ask the cat girl what she thinks the group should do? Maybe she’s got a good idea, you never know until you ask!

What about strength? Sure, some of these girls seem to be more like domesticated cats, but what about the ones like I was, half big wildcat? When I had my cat body, I felt the tiger’s strength all the time. I knew, by tiger’s instinct, how to be quiet and stalk prey; how to use my speed to my advantage; most importantly, how to use the natural weapons in a cat’s arsenal to my advantage. There’s nothing quite like the ability to use retractable claws, as I’ve learned.

I know I can’t speak to this very well, but what about their actual emotions? Guys, I have some news for you: that cat girl in your adventuring party’s not there for arm-dressing, or for your personal gratification. She’s there to help you in any way she can, and more than just in the sense I know your tiny little horny brain is thinking of. She’s a person. She thinks. She cries. She laughs. If you cross her, she’ll slap your face off your head. She has more than a gymnast’s body under a soft coat of fur; she’s got a heart, too. If you’d ever bother actually talking to her, as opposed to just ogling her, you’d know this.

I’d like to think of myself as a role model for current and future aspiring cat girls everywhere … a rounded character, one that’s respected by my female and male companions alike. Now, I know what some folks are going to say … I’m an ex-cat girl, why do I even think this way anymore? Once you go cat, you never go back, to coin a phrase. I see all these exploited cat girls around me, and it’s all I can do not to weep.

My husband’s been the best thing that’s been in my life. We met while I was in my cat girl phase, but he was more impressed with my combat prowess and my character, and the body stuff wasn’t that major of a factor. We’ve been married now for … wow, is it really seventeen years? Even though that’s just a teeny drop in the bucket for Cyrus, time flies when you’re with your soul mate, believe me.

All I hope for is that, should my daughter ever find herself in the role of cat girl, she takes a cue from her mom and retains her personality. Hope that she doesn’t just turn into some sex object.

And if she does …

Well, according to my sixteen-foot gun rack, God may own their soul but their ass will be mine.

Kitty Salem, her husband Cyrus, daughter Michika, and family friend William White Bear post from their hiding place on Tumblr at the Hidden-In-Plain-Sight Ranch (http://hiddeninplainsightranch.tumblr.com). For more information on their ally Alanna Sharpe’s adventures, pick up Infernal Eighteen, the fourth novel in the Phantom Squadron series, at http://phantomsquadronofficial.weebly.com.

Stuff is a happenin

2013-02-08T20:32:00.001-07:00

It has been a crazy couple of days over here! The hubby was taken out by the flu/strep/bronchitis plague that is currently traveling through Montana. I seem to have escaped unscathed, but I'm not really sure how.
The big happy news here is that I was officially accepted into MBA program at

Yaaaayyy!

The other not so great/ not so bad news is that my work has finally announced that my position has been eliminated. That's right, I'm getting laid off. The crummy part is that I still have to complete the archiving project from hell before I'm officially done. The cool part is that this gives me an excellent chance to investigate freelance work and other fields that I might have an interest in. Oh and actually have some time to do schoolwork.Plus, maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll actually get the chance to write again. At this point, the only real spare time that I have tends to go to book reviews for people.

I'd love to hear if any of you have had any luck with elance.com or guru.com! Or if you have any suggestions for my soon to be unemployed ass!

Since it is Friday, here's this week's feature and follow question:

Q: Happy Mardi Gras! If they were throwing the HOTTEST books off of a Mardi Gras float — what would you do to have them throw to you…?

Hmmm, beyond the mystical book of what to do with my life, I might have to go with the Indigo Spell. I'm really digging that series.
*** I just re-read the question and realized that I totally didn't answer it. HAHAHAHAHA! I guess that just goes to show how awesome my brain is today.***