Thursday, December 25, 2008

2008 Reading List

In 2007 I started a journal listing all the books I read that year. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to continue. Here are the books I read in 2008:
1. Size 12 Is Not Fat- Meg Cabot
2. Empire of Ivory- Naomi Novik
3. Crocodile on the Sandbank- Elizabeth Peters
4. Not Quite a Lady- Loretta Chase
5. The Ladies of Missalonghi- Colleen McCullough
6. Plum Lucky- Janet Evanovich
7. The Masque of the Black Tulip- Lauren Willig
8. Sizzle and Burn- Jayne Ann Krentz
9. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist- Rachel Cohen and David Levithan
10. Real Murders- Charlaine Harris
11. Dragon Blood- Patricia Briggs
12. Big Boned- Meg Cabot
13. The Spymaster’s Lady- Joanna Bourne
14. His for the Taking- Julie Cohen
15. Alien Taste- Wen Spencer
16. Stray- Rachel Vincent
17. The House of the Scorpion- Nancy Farmer
18. Shaken and Stirred- Kathleen O’Reilly
19. A Good Yarn- Debbie Macomber
20. Sex, Straight Up- Kathleen O’Reilly
21. Swimming Without a Net- Mary Janice Davidson
22. Everyone Else’s Girl- Megan Crane
23. Missing You- Meg Cabot
24. A Vision of Murder- Victoria Laurie
25. One Foot in the Grave- Jeaniene Frost
26. Princess Mia- Meg Cabot
27. The Sharing Knife: Legacy- Lois McMaster Bujold
28. Lady Anne’s Dangerous Man- Jeane Westin
29. Sweet Silver Blues- Glen Cook
30. My Fair Captain- J.L. Langley
31. Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander- Ann Herendeen
32. Fairyville- Emma Holly
33. Isabella- Loretta Chase
34. Last Wolf Standing- Rhyannon Byrd
35. The English Witch- Loretta Chase
36. Small Favor- Jim Butcher
37. Nightkeepers- Jessica Anderson
38. From Dead to Worse- Charlaine Harris
39. Grimspace- Ann Aguirre
40. Lord Perfect- Loretta Chase
41. Fearless Fourteen- Janet Evanovich
42. Certain Girls- Jennifer Weiner
43. The Third Circle- Amanda Quick
44. Dragonflight- Anne McCaffrey
45. Blood Noir- Laurell K. Hamilton
46. Venetia- Georgette Heyer
47. Strange Attractions- Emma Holly
48. Unquiet Dreams- Mark delFranco
49. The Lost Duke of Wyndham- Julia Quinn
50. The Summoning- Kelley Armstrong
51. Miss Wonderful- Loretta Chase
52. Lover Enshrined- J.R. Ward
53. The Man With the Golden Torc- Simon R. Green
54. Hidden- Eve Kenin
55. Your Scandalous Ways- Loretta Chase
56. Don’t Hex With Texas- Shanna Swendson
57. Cry Wolf- Patricia Briggs
58. Personal Demon- Kelley Armstrong
59. It’s All Too Much- Peter Walsh
60. The Curse of Chalion- Lois McMaster Bujold
61. The Sugar Queen- Sarah Addison Allen
62. Kitty and the Silver Bullet- Carrie Vaughn
63. Daemons Are Forever- Simon R. Green
64. Paladin of Souls- Lois McMaster Bujold
65. Acheron- Sherrilyn Kenyon
66. Unlucky- Jana DeLeon
67. Victory of Eagles- Naomi Novik
68. Oh My Gods- Tera Lynn Childs
69. Bet Your Bottom Dollar- Karin Gillespie
70. Demons Are a Ghoul’s Best Friend- Victoria Laurie
71. Dark Light- Jayne Castle
72. My Lord and Spymaster- Joanna Bourne
73. Night Season- Eileen Wilks
74. Into the Fire- Suzanne Brockmann
75. Gluten-Free Girl- Shauna James Ahern
76. Half-Assed- Jennette Fulda
77. The Hallowed Hunt- Lois McMaster Bujold
78. The Sharing Knife: Passage- Lois McMaster Bujold
79. Notes From a Small Island- Bill Bryson
80. Living With the Dead- Kelley Armstrong
81. Aphrodisiac- Allyson Roy
82. Marked- P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast
83. Blood Lines- Eileen Wilks
84. A Brother’s Price- Wen Spencer
85. Magician: Apprentice- Raymond E. Feist
Happy New Year's, y'all!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Mr. Flurry

This is Mr. Flurry. I found the free pattern online and knit him up out of stash as a Christmas present for my brother's inlaws. Isn't he cute?


He was knit in one piece and hemmed up the back, as the pattern directs. Sadly, my seaming skills are not that great, creating an unfortunate butt-crack effect. A friend says that the dimpling adds a nice cellulite effect, too. (Some friend!)

What I've really knit here is a brand-new Christmas character: Flurry the Lard Ass. Put him on your kitchen table. Use his as a decoration on your holiday buffets. Let him be a reminder that you too could look like this if you don't put down the cheese ball RIGHT NOW.

I feel a little bad giving Flurry to my inlaws-once-removed. They're nice people, and I'm hoping they'll put it on a shelf somewhere where no one can see the rear view. I didn't intend to send them a fat assed snowman for Christmas. Sometimes things just work out that way.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Good News/Bad News

I just had a call from my GI's office. Good news- the biopsies taken during my colonoscopy last week show no cancer or current inflammatory activity. The bad news? The colonoscopy shows no unusual activity. So, if there's nothing wrong with me, why do I feel like ass? I'm scheduled for a pill cam next week (a new test for me), and she wants me to make an appointment with a new Rheumatologist. Maybe those will turn something up. I certainly don't want anything to be wrong with me. But clearly there is something wrong, and if we can't find it, we can't fix it. Whatever's wrong with me, we have to fix it soon. I can't stay on disability much longer- it doesn't pay all my bills and the savings is running out, plus the insurance will only cover me for two more months. If I don't get back to work soon, disability or no, I'm afraid I won't have a job to go back to.

How's that for holiday cheer? In slightly better news, the Christmas knitting is just about done. If I'm lucky, the family presents will go out in the mail tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday are taken up with doctors' appointments, and then I'd like to get my tree up and decorated over the weekend. (Late for everyone else, but early for my family. We usually put our tree up on Christmas Eve.) So that's my week.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Roto Rooter, that's the name...

I had my first appointment with a new GI this afternoon, and surprise, surprise she wants a new colonoscopy. That's not inappropriate considering I haven't had one since I was in the hospital last summer.

To say I'm looking forward to it is an overstatement, but a colonoscopy (and required prep) are kind of a a right of passage for those of us with Crohn's. I've never done the prep before, and I'm kind of curious how this is going to go. From everything I've heard, it'll be unpleasant. I guess I'll know on Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

It's Here

After two and a half weeks of fidgeting and stressing out, the dishcloth cotton I ordered to make Christmas presents is here. Now I just have to knit my hands off trying to get it all done in time. This has not been the best online shopping experience.

Pisgah: Peaches & Creme is the best dishcloth cotton I've tried, but based on this order, your customer service isn't good. One of the items I ordered was out of stock and no one bothered to tell me. When I called looking for a tracking number (a week later) you couldn't find the order, and it took two or three more phone calls before you were able to track it down. And you had already charged my card. You had the opportunity to turn that bad impression around by offering to upgrade my shipping, but you didn't do it. (That's what I would have done, if that had happened with an order in my office. Of course, it wouldn't have happened because we always notify customers immediately if a product is backordered, and make suggestions of alternate products if they don't want to wait for the backorder to come in. That's good customer service.) My overall impression of your company? Mediocre.

UPS: We're breaking up. You rescheduled on me. Then you stood me up. Then you lied about it. Then you promised to call and never did. You're like a combination of every bad boyfriend I've ever had. I won't be shipping my Christmas packages with you this year. Or likely ever again.

Now that the yarn has finally arrived, I'm motoring through, trying to get everything done on time to ship for Christmas. I've finished two dishcloths and started a third in just about 24 hours. I'm going to have to take it a little easy- my hands are really starting to hurt. But I still hope to finish dishcloth three before bed tonight. Then tomorrow I might start working on one of the three bags I still hope to knit. Those are a much looser knit than the dishcloths, so hopefully those will be a little easier on my hands and forearms.

In slightly more cheerful news, I watched disc 3 of Primeval last night and this morning, and I'm LOVING this show. I'd be seriously considering upgrading my cable package to include BBC America if it wouldn't double my cable bill. Thank the TV gods for Netflix. I've got a pretty decent Blockbuster down the street, but their TV on DVD selection is pretty well limited to US productions, and most of those are crime or soap opera type dramas. Not much in the way of sci-fi.

Doctor Who, series two disc one, is in the player for tonight and the final disc of Primeval should be in the mail today. At least I've got good stuff to watch as I crank out those rows.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Who

Last night I finished watching Doctor Who season one. (The wireless is still working, sort of.) I'm surprised to say that I'd seen more of it than I realized. The Slitheen were familiar, as was the phrase Bad Wolf. I'd also seen at least part of an episode later in the series with a large (fire?) demon. I'd seen just enough to be confused and lose interest. That's why I don't like to jump into the middle of a series. I want to be in on it from the beginning.

I got very attached to Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor- he brought such charm to the role. I'm not sure how I'm going to like David Tennant. The first disc of season two should come in the mail by the end of the week, so I guess we'll see.

Apparently I've developed a thing for British accents. The other DVDs I received today were disc two of Primeval (another BBC show) and Prince Caspian.