Realizing that I only posted once in June, here I am at the 11th hour for one more little push. (I blame it on the ridiculously hot weather. I've developed a deep distaste for summertime in my old age).
Just a couple of things going on lately -
- Been teaching my 9-year-old cousin to sew her own quilt, which has been a lot of fun. Honestly, the only thing that qualifies me to do this is that I once made a pieced quilt in college for a class and I handquilted it - just to say that I'd done it. Oh - and I pieced a baby quilt for my niece last year, but I had that machine-quilted (she wouldn't have gotten it until she graduated high school otherwise). So, this has been an interesting experiment in me BS-ing my way through being an expert. It's still fun, though. My cousin is a good student :)
- Summer Reading is in full swing at work. I think I could give the Sign-Up Schpiel in my sleep. Most of it is the same as last year's, which I helped with when I did my internship at West Jordan Library. Honestly, I never know if the people signing up have done it before and need all the information or if they're brand new. But nobody's been snotty with me and given me the "Yes, yes, we know, give us the stuff already!" deal. The Teen Program this year is a little sparse and I'm not terribly impressed with it, though. If they read, they get put into a ... drawing. They don't really get a prize (other than earbuds). Personally, I never win anything in drawings, so I'd feel like I was getting the short end on this one. But I've heard that the kids would rather have a drawing instead of a poor selection of book prizes, so who am I to argue?
- Of course there's the yearly requisition of wildfires, only this time someone's been pumping steroids into the darn things. The closest brush with wildfires I've had before this year was a fire started up the canyon of the ranch our family owned years ago, but it was peanuts compared to what's been going on (and the creek was running full-tilt that year). My sister's been put on evacuation standby twice (that I know of) for two separate fires just in the past couple of weeks. It's not a big deal compared to people in Fairview and Colorado Springs (holy crap - have you seen those pictures? I've seen pictures of wildfires before, but I don't think I've seen pictures with so many houses burning!), but still - I worry (it's my life's calling to worry, I guess).
- Better News - Jaylee is going to be 1! I have a couple of project lined up for her birthday, but they're remaining secret until probably the day before. And they'll only be posted on Facebook because, hey, privacy settings! It's been an awesome year with the adorable little stink. Every time I see her, seems like she's got a new little thing she does (her face scrunch is the best thing in the world!) So, yeah - aunt-hood = Best Ever!
- Of course, I have plenty of things I'm reading and watching. My latest project has been Castle, per recommendations from various Facebook friends after I heaped much praise on Firefly and admitted I had never seen anything else with Nathan Fillion. So, I started and holy cow - a ruggedly handsome novelist following a homocide team around in a police procedural drama? Could this show be any more made for me? (Maybe if the homocide team was based in Middle-Earth or something). I'm only partway through Season 2, but this is sooo my new favorite show (and I've decided that putting Nathan Fillion in any show or movie is the on-screen equivalent to smothering it in chocolate syrup. Yummy).
- Also in the works - Avatar: The Last Airbender re-watch, Firefly re-watch (I got my dad the DVD for Father's Day - I know he'd love it if he ever sat down to watch it), I'm toying with the idea of a Doctor Who Fifth Doctor re-watch (I have all of them on DVD except "Four to Doomsday" - don't ask me why I don't have that one yet), and possibly a New Who re-watch as well.
- On the literary front - I'm currently reading a number of things, but I've recently gotten into Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! by Terry Brooks. I read some of his Shannara novels in high school and really enjoyed them and, so far, the Magic Kingdom of Landover is much the same. Fantasy, adventure, humor, mortal peril mixed with a little bit of fluff, a hardnosed lawyer becoming king of a fairy-tale land - can't argue with that.
- Also, I've gained a taste for historical fiction as well. The last one I finished was By The King's Design by Christine Trent about a woman who owns a draper shop in London during the Luddite rebellions. Not bad, actually. I'm going to start The Queen's Dollmaker soon (which actually should have been first, but it's not an issue that I'm reading it second). And - I don't know if you can classify this as historical fiction because it was written (more or less) - during the time it was taking place, but I've working on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. More on that as it develops.
- For more historical fiction love, Tor.com is hosting a Georgette Heyer re-read this summer, which is odd for a sci-fi/fantasy site to do (I first got hooked on Tor with the Wheel of Time re-read. Then it was the Legend of Korra recaps - which I still need to do for myself). I admit, I haven't read Georgette Heyer, but Tor's got my intrigued and with my new historical fiction kick - why the heck not?
That's it with me. Hopefully I'll be back before the end of August with something new.
Just a couple of things going on lately -
- Been teaching my 9-year-old cousin to sew her own quilt, which has been a lot of fun. Honestly, the only thing that qualifies me to do this is that I once made a pieced quilt in college for a class and I handquilted it - just to say that I'd done it. Oh - and I pieced a baby quilt for my niece last year, but I had that machine-quilted (she wouldn't have gotten it until she graduated high school otherwise). So, this has been an interesting experiment in me BS-ing my way through being an expert. It's still fun, though. My cousin is a good student :)
- Summer Reading is in full swing at work. I think I could give the Sign-Up Schpiel in my sleep. Most of it is the same as last year's, which I helped with when I did my internship at West Jordan Library. Honestly, I never know if the people signing up have done it before and need all the information or if they're brand new. But nobody's been snotty with me and given me the "Yes, yes, we know, give us the stuff already!" deal. The Teen Program this year is a little sparse and I'm not terribly impressed with it, though. If they read, they get put into a ... drawing. They don't really get a prize (other than earbuds). Personally, I never win anything in drawings, so I'd feel like I was getting the short end on this one. But I've heard that the kids would rather have a drawing instead of a poor selection of book prizes, so who am I to argue?
- Of course there's the yearly requisition of wildfires, only this time someone's been pumping steroids into the darn things. The closest brush with wildfires I've had before this year was a fire started up the canyon of the ranch our family owned years ago, but it was peanuts compared to what's been going on (and the creek was running full-tilt that year). My sister's been put on evacuation standby twice (that I know of) for two separate fires just in the past couple of weeks. It's not a big deal compared to people in Fairview and Colorado Springs (holy crap - have you seen those pictures? I've seen pictures of wildfires before, but I don't think I've seen pictures with so many houses burning!), but still - I worry (it's my life's calling to worry, I guess).
- Better News - Jaylee is going to be 1! I have a couple of project lined up for her birthday, but they're remaining secret until probably the day before. And they'll only be posted on Facebook because, hey, privacy settings! It's been an awesome year with the adorable little stink. Every time I see her, seems like she's got a new little thing she does (her face scrunch is the best thing in the world!) So, yeah - aunt-hood = Best Ever!
- Of course, I have plenty of things I'm reading and watching. My latest project has been Castle, per recommendations from various Facebook friends after I heaped much praise on Firefly and admitted I had never seen anything else with Nathan Fillion. So, I started and holy cow - a ruggedly handsome novelist following a homocide team around in a police procedural drama? Could this show be any more made for me? (Maybe if the homocide team was based in Middle-Earth or something). I'm only partway through Season 2, but this is sooo my new favorite show (and I've decided that putting Nathan Fillion in any show or movie is the on-screen equivalent to smothering it in chocolate syrup. Yummy).
- Also in the works - Avatar: The Last Airbender re-watch, Firefly re-watch (I got my dad the DVD for Father's Day - I know he'd love it if he ever sat down to watch it), I'm toying with the idea of a Doctor Who Fifth Doctor re-watch (I have all of them on DVD except "Four to Doomsday" - don't ask me why I don't have that one yet), and possibly a New Who re-watch as well.
- On the literary front - I'm currently reading a number of things, but I've recently gotten into Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! by Terry Brooks. I read some of his Shannara novels in high school and really enjoyed them and, so far, the Magic Kingdom of Landover is much the same. Fantasy, adventure, humor, mortal peril mixed with a little bit of fluff, a hardnosed lawyer becoming king of a fairy-tale land - can't argue with that.
- Also, I've gained a taste for historical fiction as well. The last one I finished was By The King's Design by Christine Trent about a woman who owns a draper shop in London during the Luddite rebellions. Not bad, actually. I'm going to start The Queen's Dollmaker soon (which actually should have been first, but it's not an issue that I'm reading it second). And - I don't know if you can classify this as historical fiction because it was written (more or less) - during the time it was taking place, but I've working on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. More on that as it develops.
- For more historical fiction love, Tor.com is hosting a Georgette Heyer re-read this summer, which is odd for a sci-fi/fantasy site to do (I first got hooked on Tor with the Wheel of Time re-read. Then it was the Legend of Korra recaps - which I still need to do for myself). I admit, I haven't read Georgette Heyer, but Tor's got my intrigued and with my new historical fiction kick - why the heck not?
That's it with me. Hopefully I'll be back before the end of August with something new.
No comments:
Post a Comment