Brisingr Book Review and Book Shelves

First, the shelves. They're done! Mom put the second coat of paint on tonight, which means that when mom has time, she can start putting her books away. Yippie!

Mom says when she has the time because she has to work Saturday, and Sunday mom and dad are celebrating Thanksgiving with Dad's family.

Dad's older sister lives in France with her two daughters. She hasn't celebrated Thanksgiving since 1979 so they are celebrating it with her, in honor of her visit.

Now for the review of Brisingr. Well, it's good. Just plain good. The pace is spanking. Mr. Karate laughed when mom told him that. He said he'd never heard of it spoken that way before. But it fits. It's a spanking pace. As opposed to the middle of Eldest, which was so looooooooooooooooooooong that mom thought it would never ennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd. Eldest was good, but Brisingr is better. Much better. So much so, that mom is like totally peeved that she is going to have to wait TWO MORE YEARS FOR THE NEXT ONE. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Any questions on whether you should read it or not?

Nine Plus Four Equals Thirteen Thursday

For Men, Nine Words Women Use

1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do IT!

5) Loud Sigh: This is not actually a word, but is a non verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6) That’s Okay. This is one of the most dangerous statements women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’ – that will bring on a ‘whatever’.)

8) Whatever: Is a woman’s way of saying F- You!

9) Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response, refer to #3.

Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology. .


A squillion years ago Mickey gave this awesome award to mom. But mom was having major brain issues and couldn't get her act together enough to post it, until tonight.

Mom would like to give this to Coco, and Charlie and Ollie, because these are both new, but really cool blogs with really cool pugs.

This was given to mom by Ladypug Mugs and by Pug and Bugg.

This lovely award is created by Crystal @ Memoirs of a Mommy in honor of Noah and the donor of his sweet little heart who ENCOURAGES us to SHARE THE LOVE ! Thanks Crystal! [Click on Memoirs of a Mommy to learn and read this special love story!] The rules for this award are to pass it along to some people whose blogs you love. They make you laugh, smile, leave encouraging comments on your blog. You would like to share some love with them because they have uplifted, inspired, encouraged or prayed for you. Please include this paragraph with the link to Memoirs of a Mommy so that everyone knows where this award originated from.

Mom would like to give it to Auntie, and Melissa and Emmitt. Mom wants to give it to these two people because Melissa and her sister do a lot of things together, and they remind mom of her and Auntie, whom mom loves an awful lot. Mom thinks you need to have people you love an awful lot in your life. Mom is lucky she has Auntie. And mom knows Melissa is lucky because she has Melanie.

I was not a finalist on Project Dogway, but I had a lot of fun competing, and I got this awesome badge for doing so. I did win one contest, so I am very happy that I did well.

As for the thirteenth thing, well... Six more days and the election is Over! Woo Hoo! Go VOTE!

Wordless Wednesday

Tattle Tale Tuesday

Mom's computer needs a new power supply, so she can't turn it on. The photo she wanted to share with you for her Tattle Tale Tuesday is, of course, on mom's computer. So we are going to go for a little something different.


Ever since he was a little boy, PlusOne has loved to arrange his "action figures" in scenes of battles and whatnot.

Here are two early examples of his handiwork.


Well, he hasn't outgrown his fascination for setting up his figures in all sorts of different settings.

This is at the side of his bed, in front of his night table.

And these guys are across the room in a bird feeder that PlusOne begged for many years ago. Of course, he didn't want it as a bird feeder. He wanted it as a house for his Pokemon. Now it is the command center for the Clone Troopers.

I dunno where he gets his imagination from.

Trick Or Treat Explained

The city where we live has Trick Or Treating on the Sunday before Halloween from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. Mom likes this, because dad can go trick or treating with PlusOne and Memere, and mom can stay home and give out candy. It is great for smaller children and their parents. Both mom and dad had trick or treating at night when they where growing up, but mom likes this as a family event.

It was also beautiful yesterday, sunny and in the high 60's. Mom sat out on a chair in the sun with Lucky and me until PlusOne took me with him. I got lots of compliments and Lucky got lots of petting. After I came back, I sat in mom's lap in the sun and really enjoyed it.

Because it was trick or treat, mom did almost no work on the back porch. She did prime the other side of all the shelves, but that was it. It was good of her to take a break. And read Brisingr. She should be done for the Book Review on Friday. Don't worry, she won't give away any spoilers.

Is this the life, or what?

Trick-Or-Treat

Otherwise known as Mr. Karate needs a Halloween Costume, can you help? This is Saturday afternoon, while mom is waiting for PlusOne's Cello lesson to be over. Sure, mom says. And then Mr. Karate tells her he wants Hakema pants made, the pants Kendo practitioners use. Out of a sheet. Okay mom says, meet you at the house. Well, I have to get a sheet first. Okay mom says, meet me at the house when you get one. He shows up an hour later (4:00pm) and they get to work. About forty minutes later is when he told her the party was at 9:00pm!

This is what they are supposed to look like.

This is what they ended up looking like. (They are supposed to hide your leg and feet movement.)

Mr. Karate was pleased with them. And, of course, he knows he owes mom big time for them.

Two ninjas fighting! That's PlusOne's costume from last year. They are Trick Or Treating today with memere and Dad. And maybe me and Lucky. For a little while, anyway.

More Fun Saturday

Mom moved the bookcases into place. She has to finished painting the shelves.


Then she can put all her books back. Auntie asked where all the stuff went.

Does this answer your question? This is the landing to the upstairs.

There's more (of course) but mom is a little embarrassed by it all. One of the things she is going to do is get rid of things she doesn't want or use any more. Hey, you might as well go all the way, right?

It was nice and sunny on the back porch. We joined mom as she was reading Brisingr. It is hard to put down.

Oh, by the way, mom does have a rug, but there is a story behind it, so you will have to wait to hear it, when the floor is all finished.

Friday Partial Book Review & Painting Floors

Mom decided to go for it and paint the floor of the sewing room. She has had this gallon of paint for a while, so she figured she would use it.

As you can see, the (sub)floor is plywood. And a pretty lousy grade of it too. It looked really scummy, so mom figured it couldn't look worse.

She made sure she didn't paint herself into a corner.

And she got over half of it painted. So that made her feel good. Now she can move her bookcases back into place, and start getting the room into order. And paint the other half, of course.

Mom has started reading Brisingr. She waited so long to start it because she knew once she started, she would have a hard time putting it done. And she is. It's good. And mom is annoyed because she will have to wait a long time for Book Four. Argh!

Thursday Thirteen

Here are some of the things that mom can hang in her sewing room.

1) By Memere

2) Memere

Oops

3) By Mom's brother, Mark

4) By Memere

5) An engagement gift from Memere

6) By Memere


7) By John Singer Sargent

8) From Memere

9) Mom bought this ages ago and mounted it.

10) From a neat store in Bristol, NH

11) Maxfield Parrish, mom may move this to the sewing room

12) By Mark

13) Mom bought this ages ago as well.

So there you have it. 13 things mom may put in the sewing room. Of course, if she puts all 13 in, she won't have any wall space left.

Wordless Wednesday

Tired Tuesday

Mom is tired. She didn't want to paint, last night, but she knew if she did, it would be DONE. So she put the second coat on the ceiling and the second coat on the walls and bookcase.

She is thinking about painting the floor, but just thinking about it. She hasn't decided yet. She does have paint. But she's a little pooped. If she does paint, it will probably be Thursday or Saturday. Sunday is Halloween and Lucky and I have to help hand out the candy.

Blue, Blue, Blue!

The bookcases.

PlusOne does not like M & M cookies, so mom made him some chocolate chip. With Ghiardelli milk chocolate chips. They are really yummy, especially with cold milk. Not that I would know. I didn't get any. Mom does not want any repeats of last year!