Book Reviews

A month has gone by... time for another monster book review! LOL!

"Alchemist" has a lot in common with the "Children of the Lamp" series. They both feature twins, who discover that they have secret powers. They get hooked into helping Nicholas Flamel save the Codex from the evil John Dee. There are two reasons to get the Codex. One is to keep John Dee from releasing the powers of the dark ones. The other is that the recipe for the immortalitly elixir, which Flamel needs to take every month, is written in the book. If Flamel doesn't make and drink the elixir, he will be dead within the month. I really dislike authors that don't let on that it's a series until you get to the end... but in this case I forgive them. I look forward to the next one...

"Princess Academy" is the Newbery Honor book by Shannon Hale. I expected something akin to a Disney princess story, but what I got was a wonderful story about girls with character. The plot is simple... it is decreed that the next princess will be from Mount Eskel, a poor mining community. So, to ready themselves, all the girls from Mount Eskel are sent to the Princess Academy to learn how to be princesses. The prince will pick one of the graduates for his bride. The girls learn to respect each other and work together. I can't tell you too much without giving it all away, but this book is a MUST READ!

We are BIG Alex Rider fans! Anthony Horowitz has us hooked! Unfortunately we were disappointed with this latest book. Snakehead lacked the action and excitement of the previous books in the Alex Rider series. Alex teams up with Ash, an old friend of his parents, in the hopes of learning more about his parents and his parents' death. The bad guys are easy to pick out from the beginning, Alex knows he's been betrayed, but doesn't care doesn't tell anyone. Because of it all, he ends up in big trouble. Very frustrating to read. But, we are die hard Alex Rider fans... we'll be there to pick up the next book!

"Titan's Curse" is the third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. This is another wonderful parody on mythology. Percy and his friends are on a quest... again. The enemy captures, Annabeth by the General (he's working for the Titan Kronos). The General has also captured the goddess Artemis. Now it's up to Percy and his friends to rescue the goddess, find Annabeth, and stop The General's plans before it's too late. If you have loved the first two books in the series, you'll love this one too.


I either love or hate Margaret Mahy. Her books of fantasy are definitely for the older teen audience... dark, menacing, and never seem to end with a "Feel Good" type ending. This book, "Maddigan's Fantasia", fits all three descriptions. In the world of the future, the Earth has been ravaged in what they call the "destruction." Garland Maddigan travels with a circus called Maddigan's Fantasia between the isolated human settlements bringing joy in the way of circus performance. This time their journey involves a mission. They must pick up a solar converter and return it to the city of Solis, or civilization will be destroyed; and three time travelers from Garland's future travel back into the past to help her complete her family's mission. This felt more like a collection of short stories. The stop at each city being a different story. It was an interesting book, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Hey, look!!! I read a book written for adults! This book has been on the best sellers list forever, so I had to read it and see what all the hoopla is about. I read it... I don't know what the hoopla is all about. It's sad. It's miserable. It's tragic. I don't know what the attraction is... Perhaps those interested in history and social oppression, will get a kick out of it? I don't know why else anyone would want to read such a sad book. I like books with feel good endings. That's probably why I like reading children's books.

Progress Map

I like posting the map every other week instead of every week. I feel like I'm making more progress. Here I am... Just crossed the Arizona border... on my way to Woodsfield, OH.

Scrapping the Music - She's not Just a Pretty Face

It's been a while since I've done a Scrapping the Music Challenge. In fact, I haven't done much scrapping at all this year. I have the perfect photo for this challenge. My daughter hates this layout! LOL! All the paper, alphabet, and bling are from the TallyScrapper February kit.




Journaling reads: After not making the Varsity Soccer team, Cheryl didn't give up. She announced that she was going to try out for Capo's first Varsity Lacrosse team. She made it! We now have a Lacrosse player in the family. None of the girls have ever played; most of them don't know the rules, but it looks like a fun game. The coach declared the first scrimmage of the season a success! They lost against ETHS 8-9, but El Toro's Lacrosse program is in its second year.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hahaha! This photo was actually taken last year. Our Valentine's Day this year consisted of work and school. My daughter turned her ankle at Lacrosse practice and my hubby took her to the doctor; and then for x-rays. The good news is that it isn't broken. The bad news is that it's a bad sprain. She could be off of it for 4-6 weeks. While my hubby and daughter were doing their thing. I made dinner for my son and me, then took him to soccer practice. Just another night at our house...

Mammoth Videos

You Tube only allows video of 100MB max, so I split the video up into two short videos. Each one is about 2 minutes long. ENJOY!

Skiing:


Snow Mobiling:

Progress Map

I didn't post a map last week because I've been disappointed with my progress. It's taking me forever to cross the Mojave Desert. Here's my current progress to Woodsfield... I'm almost to the Arizona border!

Mammoth Vacation

The trip was quite an adventure!

When we arrived Thursday night, they were just getting ready to close highway 203. We had to put on chains and we were in one of the last groups escorted up the mountain. We didn't arrive in Mammoth until 11pm, and by then the snow was falling so thick it was very hard to see. It took us another half an hour to find the condo where we were staying. Here is a photo of the trek from the parking lot to the condo... not easy finding it in the dark and falling snow.



Friday we skied. We went to the smaller of the lodges, Canyon lodge. Since the kids were just beginners, we didn't want to have to fight the crowds at the Main lodge. As we were in line to rent our skis, we heard that the road to the Main lodge was closed. Everyone was heading either to Eagle lodge or Canyon lodge. Since it was Friday, the crowds weren't that bad. The kids were dead tired with only half a day skiing. It was windy and cold on the mountain. That really took it out of them too. They slept really good that night.






Saturday, we headed to the snow mobile area, the weather was beautiful! BUT another storm was supposed to hit about noon. Chris rode with Jim and Cheryl rode with me. We all took turns driving. In the second picture, you can see the storm starting to come in.





It snowed all afternoon, and it snowed all evening. We went out for ice cream... why? Well, because we had a coupon! Ben and Jerry's two sundaes for the price on one! LOL!





It snowed all night and all Sunday morning... and here is what we woke up to. That picture of my daughter was taken in the same place as the photo of the way to the condo that I posted above.







The pass was closed and was not expected to open again until 7pm Sunday night. My hubby had to go to work on Monday or he wouldn't get paid for the vacation day that he took Friday, and the kids had the first day of the new semester. We tried leaving at 10am, and again at noon. When we tried again at 1:30pm, we saw that they were escorting groups through, so we jumped in line. It rained most of the way home. We got home about 8:30pm.



So that's our Mammoth adventure. It was cold and windy and a lot of FUN!!!

I've Been Tagged!

Thanks Kim for tagging me!

1. My 2 favorite scrapbook topics are: my family and nature
2. The 2 best places I've been to are: New Zealand and Jamaica
3. 2 things I do everyday are: Have a cup of coffe (or 2 or 3) and check my email
4. The 2 things everyone knows about me are: I'm a runner and I do not wear dresses
5. The 2 places I wish to visit are: Greece and Italy
6. 2 things you may not know about me are: I do not like bananas or pancakes
7. My two favorite foods are: salted nuts and beef jerkey
8. My two favorite musical artists are: Lionel Ritchie and Aaron Lines
9. What is the last two shows you watched on television: Star Trek Voyager and that new Star Trek show with the first Enterprise (both with my hubby. He's a Star Trek fan.)

I tag Mary and Beth.

The Shape of 49

This is my birthday layout for this year... yes, it's a lot early, but it was the perfect idea for a challenge I entered over at TallyScrapper. Oh, and I am not naked in this photo. My husband thinks it's important for me to point that out.



Journaling reads:
Life is good - enjoy the journey
People tend to fear the BIG-O birthdays. For me the BIG-FIVE-O is just around the corner. Sitting here at 49, I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I feel great, and I love my life.
I DO NOT FEAR 50!

I printed my photo and masked title on a transparency. I did my journaling directly on the background paper. After attaching the transparency to the background, I added rub-ons and die-cuts to the transparency to jazz it up.

Progress Map

I'm still in California... 1928.7 miles to go!

Varsity Lacrosse

We have a Lacrosse player in the family!!! Yep, she made the High School Varsity Lacrosse team. Isn't she beautiful? LOL!
(NOTE: This photo was taken under my daughter's protest!)

Book Reviews

It's been a long, long time since I posted any book reviews. It's not that I've been a lazy reader... just a lazy blogger. LOL! Here is a catch-up on the books I've read the last few months.

"Cobra King of Kathmandu" is the third book in the Children of the Lamp series. It has taken me forever to finish this book! I think it was because I really didn't care for book two, "The Blue Djinn." However, once I got into this book, I really enjoyed it. It was much better than "The Blue Djinn." John and Philippa, the twin djinn, help their friend Dybbuk solve a mystery that led to the murder for Dybbuk's friend. I already have the 4th book in this series on order.


I've been hearing about this book for a while, but it was a long time before I finally picked it up. I enjoyed "Twilight" very much! In fact I loved it. Vampire boyfriends in a sappy teenage love story? You bet! LOL! My daughter (who is not a reader) finished this book in two days... she loved it. What extremes will Bella go to to stay with her vampire boyfriend, Edward? What extremes will Edward go to in order to keep Bella safe? What will Bella's "human" boyfriend, Jacob, do to keep Bella alive? You will have to read it to find out. I must admit that "New Moon" irritated me! I found Bella very irritating in that she was so helpless and whiny... but then she is a teenager... LOL!


The Dark is Rising series was written back in the 1970's. It has taken me until now to pick it up. The writing style is very dated. The story seemed to talk down to the reader. It's hard to explain. Imagine the Boxcar Children hunting for the holy grail, and you have "Over Sea, Under Stone." "Dark is Rising" was a lot more interesting and engaging. I may read the other books in this series, just not right away.

"Dragon Slippers" was a fun book! Dragons unlike popular opinion do not hoard treasure. They are collectors... this particular dragon happens to collect ladies footwear. LOL! So ensues a fight between dragons and humans that has a happy ending.





"Wicked Lovely" is a dark fairie book. The evil winter fairies and the good summer fairies are in conflict. The Summer King must find his mortal queen to gain full use of his powers before winter takes over the world. Unfortunately for him, his chosen mortal (a Goth girl) doesn't want to be a fairie queen. This book was just okay. I'd only recommend it to someone who could not get enough of fairies.

I checked this book out of the library because there was a story in it by Stephanie Meyers (the author of Twilight). It looks like the title is "Hello", but it is "Prom Nights from Hell"! This is a collection of bizarre and sometimes disturbing short stories. Definitely give this one a miss.




I picked this up because of the great reviews it got on Amazon. "Magic Lands and the Journey Beyond" has an intriguing title. However the "magic lands" is modern civilization. This is the journey of a young man's trip from his small village into the Beyond as a rite of passage to manhood. There he meets a girl and they run away together. I read this one aloud to the hubby and kids... we all breathed a sigh of relief when I was through. The writing style is very poetic. It's very hard to read and hard to listen to... akin to reading a Shakespearen play. Maybe we're not sophisticated enough to appreciate the story, but my whole family disliked this book. Sorry to end on such a sour note...

Progress Map

Kind of wimpy progress this week due to injury, but my leg is much better and I'll get back to making some miles next week. My current mileage puts me just past Hemet, CA.

He's Baaaack!!!

Hoover's Back!!! I used to think he was adorable... until he started eating all the bird seed, scaring the birds away, and he dug up and ate all my tulip bulbs! What a pest!

Scrapping the Music - It's Good to be Us

I went through tons of old photos and came up with four photos of my hubby and I having fun together. It was hard! There were lots of choose from... I guess that means we have lots of fun. LOL! Patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Recess line.

Journaling from the song lyrics:
It's better than best. Yeah we got it made in the shade, in the sun, in love this way. We got lucky baby. We've been blessed. Couldn't ask for more, wouldn't settle for less. It's good to be us, yeah, it's good to be us. It's good to be breathing day after night after day. This feeling feels the way it should...

Iliotibial Band Syndrome

I had aches in my knee after running. But it's not the knee, it's the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin. When the band comes near the knee, it becomes narrow, and rubbing can occur between the band and the bone. This causes inflammation and pain. ITB syndrome can result from any activity that causes the leg to turn inward repeatedly. This can include wearing worn-out shoes, running downhill or on banked surfaces, running too many track workouts in the same direction, or simply running too many miles. Unlike many overuse injuries, however, ITB pain afflicts seasoned runners almost as much as beginners.

So, the treatment is ice, a patella strap,... and NO RUNNING!
What a bummer!

January 12th - Progress Map

I'm bummed. I really am! I expected to be past Palm Springs this week. I still have a way to go yet.

Aliso South Wilderness Park

I'd like to share another of our favorite running spots. This is the Aliso South Wilderness park. The high school cross country team trains here. When we bring our son to run with the team, we stay and run here too. It's 10 miles round trip to the end and back. It's a beautiful day for running. I wore a tank top and shorts. The temperature is in the high 70's. I hope you like this 60 second video I made. I give you a little history of the area as I show you where we run. Oh, and for those who don't know my daugther, she's kidding about the shirt. LOL!

Happy Birthday!

My little girl turned 18 yrs!

No more braces....

I took my son to the ortho to have his braces tightened. The nurse took him in the back, then the dentist came out and said that they made mistake! I'm thinking, "Oh, no! They're going to make me make another appointment and come back next week." The dentist said, "He's done! Can you bring him back to have his braces taken off tomorrow morning?" Whoa! No anticipation! That's it! DONE! Does he look happy? LOL!

Compact Camera/Phone Printer

Look at this! I thought this was a fun gadget!



Polaroid's new printer is a little bigger than a deck of cards and connects to phones by USB or Bluetooth.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Once celebrated for cameras that made their own prints, Polaroid Corp. plans to update the concept this year by selling a portable printer for images on cell phones and digital cameras.

And like those old Polaroid instant-film cameras, the new printers should have a wow factor: they require no ink, because they employ a thermal printing technology from startup Zink Imaging Inc.

The 8-ounce printers, a bit bigger than a deck of cards, are due to go on sale around back-to-school time for about $150, Polaroid and Zink announced Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

Once connected to a phone or camera by Bluetooth wireless or the USB port, the printers need less than a minute to churn out 2-inch-by-3-inch pictures, which can be peeled off a backing and used as stickers. Sheets of paper for the device will cost about 40 cents each, less if bought in bulk.

The Zink technology, which uses heat to activate minuscule dye crystals embedded in the photo paper, won raves at the influential Demo conference a year ago. But until the CES announcement, Zink had not lined up any partners who would bring its technology to market.

Polaroid is a natural fit, and not just because of its photo-printing history. Zink was founded in 2005 by private investors who bought many technologies from Polaroid as it was coming out of bankruptcy.

Prices and availability dates were not disclosed.

Progress Map

On my way to Woodsfield! I'm off to a good start!
My current mileage puts me past the Cleveland National Forest and over Sun City... waving "Hello" to all the snow birds there!

My Running Log

Here is the journal that I made for myself to keep track of my miles.



The first page has tallys for the year.


Each month page has a tally for each week and month.There are also pages for race times and scores.


I'm also going to keep track of when I bought my shoes, so I know when to change them out.

Here is Chris' running log... His has an acrylic cover over it.