Meet Rosie, the test run pet Tarantula

So today I'm cleaning house and vacuuming behind the couch in the front room, which is also Lady K's TV watching room. I came up with a blue toy spider that had gone missing some time ago (let's you in on how thoroughly I vacuum, but let's all let that go for now shall we?) Lady K found it when she came home from pre-K and played with it the rest of the afternoon and brought it to the dinner table.....names her Rosie....feeding her pretend 'cwickets'.
So DH comes up with the first pet for Lady K....a tarantula. I am all for it, but it surprised me that DH thought it up. He has a dread fear of spiders, but he likes the idea of this as a first pet. He's not allergic to spiders as he is to virtually all animals, except certain breeds of dogs. Lady K comes up with the idea to have a test run for this future pet. Rosie will now sleep in a box DH found in the garage and the washcloth is subbing for the substrate that tarantulas like to burrow under.
I think we are going shopping for the habitat this weekend.....I see a Chilean Rose Tarantula in our immediate future....

Win a Book!!

http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2008/07/giveaway-bobbie-fayes-kinda-sorta-not.html

Go get signed up!!

Lady K-ism of the other day....

"Mommie, just look at my chicken feet dance!"

Lady K-ism of the Day...

While playing in the pool this afternoon:
"Mommie, let's play beauty parlor, so I can socialize you!"

DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES:Delilah Street-Paranormal Investigator - Carole Nelson Douglas

I am not sure what I didn't completely dig about this book, but it just didn't completely grab me. I really wanted to like this book. A really interesting premise, quirky characters, yummy hot guys after the main female character, vampires, werewolves, witches...but the writing seemed choppy loosey-goosey to me. I had to move it from my bedside book to my purse book as it was giving me a headache...not a great thing when trying to sleep. Apparently Douglas a rather prolific writer, so she should have cohesive writing down to the proverbial science by now. There was a lot of jumping from one scene to the next before the first bit was done completely. I seemed to be doing a lot of, "What the....?" while going through the motions of reading.

I did read and finish it, but I really don't think I will be looking for this author again. Two beans....

Win a Copy of THE LACE READER

http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2008/07/giveaway-lace-reader-by-brunonia-barry.html

I only found out about this today...the deadline is today....get your book reading/wantin' butte over there!

More Rodeo...and carnival fun

Buckin' broncos.....
Havin' a conversation......
Very first pony ride.....
First motorcycle ride.....

Rodeo at Cheyenne Frontier Days

THE TRAVELER: First Book of the Fourth Realm Trilogy - John Twelve Hawks

What an amazing time I have had with this book. I am not always drawn to sci-fi stylized genres very often, but I'd read the synopsis of this not long ago. It made its way to my wishlist and then onto my Secret Santa list last Christmas. A very wise friend chose it for me and I am so glad she did. It did linger on Mt Git'r'Read for many months, but I finally was in the right mood to try it. Now I cannot wait to find the rest of this described dystopian (someone's been reading the dictionary again) world trilogy.
Maya is a Harlequin, a protector of the Travelers. Travelers are people who can leave their bodies and travel to other realms in the parallel universes. Harlequins are raised to be so, Travelers are born to their calling.
They all battle against the Vast Machine, which includes people droned to be in the technological world and never question the use of tracking devices (grocery cards, passports,ATM cards, etc) or surveillance cameras that monitor all activity. The Brethren are the leaders of the anti-individuality and have puppets in the government, police force, military, all powerful.
The Brethren are trying to wipe out the Travelers, Harlequins, all free thinkers. The Travelers and their Harlequins are doing their best to stay alive and find others of their kind.
Amazing read.
Four beans!

THE WINDING WAYS QUILT - Jennifer Chiaverini

Another fine addition to the Elm Creek Quilters series. I have yet to actually hold one of the series' books in my hand to read, only have listened to the wonderful Christina Moore give voice to each character.
This is the 12th in this wonderful series. Two of the characters are leaving the circle of quilters for schools, one for more learning and one for teaching. Both will be missed to be sure. They were among the original founders of Elm Creek Quilt Camp and each has their specialty they have added to the group.
New members, which had their stories in CIRCLE OF QUILTERS, have been added to the fold. They are sort of mentioned in passing here. This story is about the past of each of the founding members and how they came to quilting and, more importantly, how they came to be best friends.
Very very enjoyable and Jennifer Chiaverini's cast of characters continues to make me want to go to the local quilt shop and take lessons.
Four beans!

HOOD:BOOK ONE of KING RAVEN TRILOGY - Stephen Lawhead

This was a superb book to read. So glad I decided to finally tackle it. I am not overly fond of hardback books, especially ones with 479 pages of teeny tiny type. I prefer MPB or TPB, but I had this one at a great price from my bookseller friend, Our Lady of the Books Pamala, so there it was on Mt Git'r'Read. I have read Stephen Lawhead, a rather prolific author of "mythic history and imaginative fiction" as per one of my favorite sites, fantasticfiction.co.uk. I have read three of The Pendragon Cycle, two of The Song of Albion, and I have BYZANTIUM on Mt Git'r'Read. I now have the rest of the KING RAVEN series he has, SCARLET and TUCK, on my wishlist.
Lawhead explains in the back of the book why he places the story in Wales instead of the expected Sherwood Forest. I will leave it for the readers to find out, but I really liked the reasoning.
The book starts with Bran, prince of a small area of Wales. He is spoiled and used to getting his own way. Then the Ffreincs show up on the doorstep from England that already have conquered. They are in the mood for more loot and land and Wales fits the bill. Bran's father, the king, gets killed by the Ffreincs who have been told that this is now their land and the King Rhi Brychan should be dispatched.
Bran is captured sometime afterward, gets injured while escaping, is patched up and given valuable life lessons by an old bard woman.
I can't wait for the rest of the series to fall in my hands.
Five beans!!!

Cheyenne Frontier Days....YEEHAW!

This is where we went today. If you ever want to have a hootin' good time and look at some good rodeo and some Wrangler butts....well, that may just be me...

More pictures when my fam goes home...kinda busy doin' schtuff now...

Win a Book from Cafe of Dreams Blog

http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-first-giveawaycontest.html

Go visit Cafe of Dreams blog at the above link and post a response to maybe win her first book giveaway. I gotta say, though, I really hope to win this for Lady K's library. But if I don't win, I'll be on my way to B&N to pick it up!

THE BODY IN THE BELFRY - Katherine Hall Page

This is a first in what I think is going to be a very good series to enjoy. Moves quickly, has intriguingly quirky characters, good locale...murder...mystery...mayhem...all the right ingredients.
Faith grew up in New York City, created a higly successful catering business, met a man and married him. The man is a minister in a small village of Aleford, Massachusetts. Murder shows up in the first few pages. I am spellbound, must continue to read.
I like cozies for just this reason. Things happen quickly and with a dash of humor mixed in. I do like an intelligently funny book.
Faith is a bit of food snob, but I can live with that.
Two murders, an intriguing mystery, quirky characters...good mix for a good read.
Four beans!

We have Returned from the Land of Oz

Lady K and Grandpa Jack playing in the dirt....
Mom, Lady K, and me in Dad's pool (I want this in our garden!)
Saw this on Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network and it's 20 miles from Dad's...It was FAB!!!
Lady K and her beloved Grandpa Jack
Dad, Lady K and me in front of Dad's classic '58 Chrysler

Going to Kansas.....

Gonna do some travelin' to the Sunflower State this weekend. Visit my dad in Ottawa, near Kansas City. My mom lives south of there in Fort Scott where I sorta kinda grew up. Might take a drive down there and show DH and Lady K where I went to junior and senior high school and spent time on my grandparents' farm. We'll see how much time we have.

I know we are going to Paola KS to The BBQ Shack http://www.thebbqshack.com/ after we saw it on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (love that Guy Fieri). Dad's already checked it out with Mom, they approve. Dad took my sister and her fam....they thumbs upped it too. So...off we go to see the hub-bub....bub....

Bringing some 'throws' from some of our plants for Dad's garden, we'll hang in the pool he has now, just chill for a couple of days.

Looking forward to seeing the new place and how he's settled in.

THE PRESTIGE - Christopher Priest

THE PRESTIGE turned out to be better than I expected. It started slowly and not at all like the movie I saw at the show, which is how it usually is. Movies never live up to the books they are made from. Now I really liked the movie..what was not to like with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie in the roles. History of magic and an amazing fantasy story of the two feuding magicians and what drives them to the lengths they go to outdo each other at every turn.
The story is told in three viewpoints, one from each magician and one from two of the descendents. This is the kind of audiobook that makes the listener stay in the parking lot or driveway to listen to just a little more before departing the vehicle. It would make me work longer, walk more miles, ride just one more lap just to get more of the tale heard.
Four beans!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

WALL - E , the Movie

Lady K and I saw this beautifully done movie this morning. We've been anxiously waiting to see it for a very long time and were rewarded for the wait. WALL-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifters -- Earth Class and he is basically the last of his kind on Earth. Only other inhabitants are cockroaches, go figure. Humans have left Earth on a hewgah 'Loveboat' style space ship (Lido deck and all) with the promise that they will come back to recolonize. These are made by the CEO of Buy & Large (love this!) who also appears to be a President type leader, too. Robots have taken over everything to do with anything, leaving humans to be slothlike riding in these moving recliners with vid screens in front of their faces at all times.

WALL-E takes his job on Earth seriously, while collecting souvenirs for his hut. He meets another robot, EVE, a very sleek search robot, when she is dropped off by a ship to complete her directive, looking for life forms (preferably green). She gets retrieved after finding said directive and WALL-E follows.

WALL-E goes about inadvertantly changing lives and opening eyes for both the humans and the robots......and, one hopes, the audience. It's a 'green' message without being preachy.

Lady K and I both give WALL-E five beans!!!