I finished the 100 book challenge yesterday - 101 books as of April 30.

( 101 books )

Reviews/thoughts at my book lj

Hmmm... is there any life?

Oh, yeah! I forgot to report this - annoying cousin is homeless again - not sure she even made it a full month in the new place. Her cat is with someone else - I said no. I also said no to letting her sleep on my porch one night - I mean, come on - if she's on the porch, she may as well come in and sleep on the couch again and then I'd have to kick her out again. I did drive her places a couple of times since she has no car and the person she's been mooching off of is getting tired of her and turns off her cell phone so cousin can't get through. So, once, before she was evicted, I went to the bar where she hangs out (she goes for karaoake and who knows what else, but she doesn't seem to drink) and drove her home. At that point, her power was turned off and she said she had the money to pay to get it back on, but didn't have a way to the store where she would pay. So I said I'd come over the next day and take her. Went over - no one home. A couple of weeks later, she called from the hospital needing a ride (probably there trying to get her medications), so I went and got her, took her to a gas station where she could get some cigarettes; then she was going to walk next door to the Waffle House and sit there. She had a huge tale of woe, but I found it hard to believe - and just don't care anymore. Also called a different cousin to warn her that annoying cousin might try to hit her up again. {Sigh} I wish she could get a place and settle, but she seems to deliberately sabotage herself. Not my problem. And she got both of her checks at the end of the month, so she's not destitute.

Apparently my disability is supposed to start coming out on the 16th of the month. Goofy me forgot to ask what the monthly amount will be or if the first check will be the backdated amount. May have to either call again or go up to the SocSec office. Otherwise things are as usual here :)


So I finished the 100 Books Challenge :) and am up to 118 for the year so far.

The summer plague... I has it :(

The cousin's cat... I STILL has it. Though hopefully he'll be gone this week.

A life... I still needs to get one.

Life? Is still in a holding pattern. Nothing too bad, but nothing great either. No court cases called up, no disability case approved. Cousin has only pestered me through the phone line occasionally :) Her cat pesters me enough in person/feline(?). Status quo isn't too bad :)

Well, the week offline was a pain, but it just meant I got more books read :>




reviews can be found over in my book journal - otterevilreads 

Well, at the end of last month, I mentioned my visitor. As Ben Franklin said "Fish and visitors begin to stink after three days" (or something like that) - supposedly this was for one night. The one night turned into a long weekend (being New Year's). And then...

She stayed for 3 weeks. Three effing weeks.

I finally had to kick her out. I didn't kick her out before because I had apparently lost all assertiveness in the past year or so (since Mom died - shit, it's been 2 years - damn). So after a very helpful visit to the therapist, I told her the deadline for leaving. The whole thing made me nauseous and shaky - and very, very relieved. Since then I seem to have recovered some of my IRL snarkiness :) I haven't been able to completely disengage yet - I ended up having to keep her cat again. No - deciding to keep the cat - I didn't have to, but I didn't want the kitty to end up in the animal shelter (at least, not yet). But I haven't responded to her attempted guilt trips to let her come back or most of her attempts to borrow money (yeah, I lent her some - most of it I got back and I was willing to part with the rest to get her out. Plus a couple of bucks for a prescription and gas). Now I have to give her a deadline for the cat - and keep saying "No" to everything else.

I also lost my homeowner's insurance. Brother put some stuff on the roof as preventative maintenance against weather damage - except the stuff he went around the vents with was left over from sealing the roof of one of the rental trailers. Insurance person drove by - saw this white stuff on the black roof - and sent me a cancellation note saying 'your roof is patched, sorry kthnxbai". Had another insurance agency inspector come out - he said I'd have to get a roofer to come out and assess the roof - and oh, yeah - this fuse box here? It's ancient, so you'll have to get an electrician too. So that's my next task. Joy, oh, joy.

Other than that - and my cats disliking cousin's cat(eww, stinky boy cat cooties in the girl house!) - life continues...

Now ( Books! )

Life is... ongoing :) Tripped over the *one* piece of carpeting in the house on Thursday,
so my right knee is a bit messed up again. I've sold several zines, so I'm happy about that.
And I'm going to the beach with a friend/former coworker from NC this weekend. And the kitties
are rambunctiously gamboling through the house :)

( Books )

or should that be "books are life"?

My therapist recommended Weight Watchers to help me feel more in control - and for the extra support of the group. I'm not big on the whole group thing, but I'm going to give it a try. My first challenge will be actually going to the grocery store :) - mostly I've been eating out/doing take-out. No, actually, the first challenge is to clean out the fridge and get the old stuff out before putting new stuff in.

I went to DC for the library convention - basically that was a bust - I couldn't do the walking. And, damn, it was all walking. But I saw a book rep that I worked with in NC and caught up with her. Very nice lady. And I did see my friend Shirl, which was great. And the whole 'getting away from home' thing was pretty nice too.

( Got some good reading done in June )

( cut for those who don't care :) )

23 for the month, 67 for the year.

I retrieved several boxes of books and stuff from my storage unit this month, so I've been indulging in some rereads :) And since I'm not counting rereads this year, my count is low.

A nonfiction book - was looking for quotes, found one or two.
Frankly, My Dear: Quips and Quotes From Hollywood by Shelley Klein

SF:
Maelstrom by Ann McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Mystery/thriller/romantic thriller:
Hit Parade by Lawrence Block
Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night edited by James Patterson
Find Me by Carol O'Connell
Skintight by Susan Andersen
Exposure by Susan Andersen
Obsessed by Susan Andersen


So, that's 27 so far. Now back to editing entries on Library Thing.

Life is, as usual, dull - not that that's a bad thing :) I got paper telling me that yes, indeed, I inherited land from Mom and it's now mine. Brother is still working on his lawyer to get stuff set up for property exchange. And I'm collecting all the tax documents for both Mom and myself.

( January books )

So I chatted with kayra42 on LJ chat and aka_arduinna on Google for a bit, then the cat demanded her space back, so I went back to reading stuff instead of typing :)


( December books )

Nothing interesting happening in life, so on to the books:

Mystery/thrillers:
Turning Angel by Greg Iles
The Wrong Hostage by Elizabeth Lowell
Hear No Evil by James Grippando
The Hunt Club by John Lescroart
Gone by Lisa Gardner
Copycat by Erica Spindler
Quicksilver by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston
The Devil's Cure by Kenneth Oppel
Cover of Night by Linda Howard

SF/Fantasy:
A Well-Timed Enchantment by Vivian Vande Velde
Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde - only reread this month
Dragon's Fire by Anne & Todd McCaffrey
1634: The Ram Rebellion by Eric Flint et. al.
Roads Not Taken: Tales of Alternate History

Romance:
Jude's Law by Lori Foster

So that's 184 for the year :)

It's late and the cat wants me to go to bed, so ( Here are the books! )

This puts me up to 140 for the year.

I read lots of books! ::beams proudly::

Got a couple of boxes out of storage, so did some rereading. Also went on a chick-lit binge. Rereads and chick-lit tend to go very fast.

( Booooooooooooooks! )

Anyone ever hired Merry Maids or the equivalent? Any idea what the general price is or what grade of disgusting they'll do?

Well, life is, as always, a PITA, so I reread a lot of good fluffy romances :) and a few others.
( April reads )

Hmmm, I think I'll post a couple of kitty pictures :)

Hit my first 50!

( Here are the books )

Time for napping with kitty now.

It appears that past events kept me from the monthly taunting of my friends!

I did some serious comfort reading - lots of rereads that wouldn't tax any brain cells or hit the emotions too hard.

( So here's the list! )

Well, I don't really see myself finishing another book today, so I'll go ahead and post

( December Books )

So 22 for the month, 247 for the year. Didn't make my goal of 300, which I figured out a couple of months ago :) and around 15 less than last year's total. But 2004's list included more teen/juvenile books, which makes sense as I was still working then - and they're a lot quicker reads for me. And I've been doing a lot of cross stitching lately too :)

Not much life-wise to comment on, so here are the books:

( November books )

So that's 15 for the month and 225 for the year.

Got my teeth cleaned today :) ::smiles blindingly again::

( October books )

nothing oustandingly excellent - some good solid stuff from the usual suspects.