Lady K the Apple Pie Baker

Lady K concentrating on getting it just right for Daddy's welcome home apple pie....

Before.......
and after...........

R.I.P. III Challenge...here I go again....

http://www.stainlesssteeldroppings.com/?p=993#comment-132529

Yep, yep, yep...here I go again. Not with this particular challenge, never done this one before. No...I am going to try my hand, or eyes or ears as the case may be, to another challenge in general. This one is mellow. The rules are loose as far as listing or not listing the authors or books to be read in the challenge. It runs from 1 Sep to 31 Oct and the genres are already what I read anyway. Genres being mystery, thrillers, paranormal, horror. Yay. And only 1 to 4 books to read in that timeframe. Not like my other challenges I join and overwhelm myself with. So much so that I made up another blog to keep track. I'll post this over there, too.
So anyway, run over to Stainlesssteeldroppings and sign up!

BookBlogger Appreciation Week!! 15 - 19 SEP 08

Go on over to http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/2008/08/book-blogger-appreciation-week.html and check out her Book Blogger Appreciation post. This looks SWEET! It's for appreciating the bloggers and the readers, the books we read and review, the authors who chime in......
I registered. There will be prizes...YAY! I like prizes.

Win Some Tess Gerritsen Books

http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/2008/08/tess-gerritsen-contest.html

Another good chance to win a book by a fab author. A fab author if you like well written thrillers and suspense mysteries....and I do....

THE CHRISTMAS QUILT - Jennifer Chiaverini, narr Christina Moore

Even though I wasn't exactly ready for a holiday themed listen, this was just fine to listen on my commutes. Nice to hear about snow and seeing one's breath and looking for Christmas trees while in 80 and 90 degree August heat.
Really, though, this series continues to warm my heart with each listen. This one takes place early in the series and focuses mostly on Sylvia, the master quilter, and her life as seen in her memories of Christmas past. Sarah, the quilter apprentice who has helped Sylvia keep Elm Creek Manor and turn it into a quilters' retreat, wants to decorate the manor for the holidays. This is the first one for the manor in many years and Sylvia is hesitant. She has been celebrating quietly and is still getting used to being back in Elm Creek after 50 years of self-exile.
Sarah finds the boxes of family decorations in the attic and among the boxes,she finds the Christmas Quilt that Sylvia's Great Aunt Lucinda worked on each Christmas and put away at the end of each holiday season, never finishing the work.
The quilt brings up the memories of Sylvia's childhood, her marriage to James, his death in WWII, and, ultimately, Sylvia's departure from Elm Creek after an argument with her sister, Claudia.
The book is about more than quilting obviously. Mostly it's about family, friends, relationships of all types. The books can be a soothing balm as you read or listen.
Four warm beans....

Our Little Entrepreneur Lady K

Lady K had her first day as budding entrepreneur today. Granted 'the day' only lasted an hour, but she made $4 selling tomatoes and pumpkins from our garden. She handed out cherry tomatoes as 'lures' to get folks interested.

We'll try again later in the week..not much business on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Can't do it tomorrow as I am working a swing shift and the sacred NFL Fantasy Draft is tomorrow evening, so DH will be out of commission.

I'll pick her up early on Wednesday after school and we'll see what we can get.

If you're in the neighborhood, drop on by and buy some yummy organic Colorado grown veggies!

MISS JULIA PAINTS THE TOWN - Ann B Ross, narr Cynthia Darlow

Miss Julia is at it again...making me laugh out loud in the car as I listen to the causes she keeps tackling.
Developers are threatening the town's courthouse and Miss Julia won't stand for it. And where are all of the men going? They keep disappearing, some with the townspeople's money!
Miss Julia enlists the aid of Etta Mae Wiggins after finding her so helpful on their trip to Florida to retrieve stolen jewelry in MISS JULIA STRIKES BACK. Etta Mae has certain charms and wiles that might distract the developer from New Jersey. Both ladies think the man is up to no good and intend to stop him in his tracks.
I love how quickly Miss Julia thinks on her feet as she moves through each predicament. She has only good in her heart, sharp of tongue and backbone of steel magnolia she may be...have...oh whatevah....

I love Cynthia Darlow's interpretation of each character. My absolute favorite,besides Miss Julia, has to be Poochie, handyman of all trades in the town...I had a perfect mental image of the scruffy gent in my mind each time he appeared in a scene.

Four beans!

POLTERGEIST - Kat Richardson

I haven't read many books by the same author back to back lately. I made an exception here for two reasons. One because I want to get the first two of the series back to their rightful sweet owner, Jenna. Two because I just knew this would be just as FREAKIN' GOOD! And I was right!
I really liked the first one best. It laid the groundwork for the series in a truly wonderfully written way. POLTERGEIST continues with Harper Blaine, PI, in a continuous learning mode, but semi-acquiescent with her Greywalker status.
She is hired by a college professor to find the 'mole' in his group of poltergeist seekers. He feels that someone is faking the results, it can't possibly be that there is a real poltergeist in their midst as they simply do not exist. Yeah, right....
Harper goes back to the friends she made in the beginning of her Greywalker status, Ben and Mara, magic theorist and his wife the witch and some vampires that still scare the bejeezus out of her. They all teach her how to walk in the Grey world and take care of the ghost business that needs taken care of.
Honkin' five beans!

What Tarot Card Are You??

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Dinosaur Rocket: A Story by Lady K

Dinosaur Rocket

Once upon a time, there was an outerspacer. He wanted to go to Mars. So he got in his rocket ship and he took off to Mars and accidentally went back to Earth. He went back in time and crashed his rocket in the time of dinosaurs.
He came out of his rocket ship and he met a big T Rex! And the T Rex picked the outerspacer up. He was very upset that the outerspacer woke him from his nap. And then the outerspacer trained the dinosaur. The dinosaur became happy and then the outerspacer and the dinosaur became best friends.
The End....that was a happy ending....

Lady K's First Day of Kindergarten

My baby is growing up!!!

GREYWALKER - Kat Richardson

DUDES!! I keep hearing so much about Stephanie Meyer's series. Everyone is reading and anxiously waiting for each installment. I read the first one (you know its title, I don't have to post it here). I liked it fine for the mellow vampire loves a high school girl story it was.
But why more people aren't going on and on and waiting just as anxiously, if not more so, for Kat Richardson's GREYWALKER series, having honkin' cool midnight release parties in front of the bookshops with Greywalkers, vampires, necromancers....and all that hellah cool schtuff, is beyond my comprehension.
GREYWALKER starts with a headbang and almost squished cranium in the elevator and it never lets up.
Harper Blaine is my kind of main character. She's a PI, strong, smart, fast on her feet. All of this stands her in good stead once she dies for two minutes, just long enough to become a Greywalker. Greywalkers, she learns, can walk in the real world as well as the other world of the ghosts and all things that we know haunt the closets and under the beds. Harper resists this 'gift' of walking among the undead, but people she meets along the way make her realize she doesn't have much choice.
Along the way, she meets a witch, a fascinating jack of all trades, a newly turned vampire, many oldly turned vampires, a necromancer, a freaky pipe organ....
This is such a good book on so many levels! I was graciously loaned the first two of the series by my bookbud, Jenna. They are from her keeper shelf. I am going out to get my own copies for my keeper shelf. I don't do this for many books or authors.
Five spooky beans!!!

Lady K's Recipe for Sneeze-Away Soup

Lady K's Recipe for Sneeze-Away Soup

Salsa

Spicy spices

Peppers

Onions

Mushrooms

Chicken and ribs and steak

Get Your Win A Book Chance Here!!

http://cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-interview-with-j-scott-savage.html

Above is an interview by Cheryl with J Scott Savage, author of FARWORLD: WATER KEEP, a YA fantasy series beginning. Also a chance to win the book...gotta like that....

Lady K-ism of the day

DH: Jeez, it's raining cats and dogs out there!

Lady K, looking for (and not seeing of course) the cats and dogs: Daddy, I think you drank too much beer.

THE FORGERY OF VENUS - Michael Gruber, BOCD, narr Eric Conger

THE FORGERY OF VENUS is a very intriguing, compelling, oddly told tale! It begins with a man being given a CD to listen to by a friend from the past. "I am being watched! Here, take this!" and the friend disappears. So begins the story of Chaz Wilmot as he narrates, via the recorded story the friend is listening to, the strange occurrences of his life.
Chaz is a painter, highly talented, so talented he can paint exactly like the 'old masters'. But he is stuck in an advertising world because no one in the modern art world appreciates his talent.
His life takes an abrupt change when he agrees to be part of a drug study. During the study, that includes participants in all of the arts, Chaz is given a drug. This drug allows him passage in his mind to the past. Chaz finds that it's not only his known past, but a past of the 17th century, living the life of Don Diego Velazquez of Spain.
He continues to live his confused life in the present. He is commissioned to refurbish a fresco in a Venetian palace. This brings him to the attention of a shady character with ties to a Nazi past. The Nazis who stole artwork from the Jews.
The strange aspect of this story is the steady decline into insanity for Chaz. Or is it?? The reader must decide which or, do as I did, go with the flow......
Four hallucinagenic beans!

TALES OF A FEMALE NOMAD: LIVING AT LARGE IN THE WORLD - Rita Golden Gelman

What an amazing read!! It's been on Mt Git'r'Read for a while even after I eagerly ordered it from Our Lady of the Books, Pamala of Bartlett after hearing so many wonderful recommendations. I added it to the TBR Challenge and still it languished. I have a slight aversion to nonfiction, non-mystery genre books and this is definitely fitting of both.
Yet something drew me finally..in the mood, color of the cover...something. And very glad I fell for the draw.
Rita is in an uncomfortable lifestyle. She has money, a pretty decent husband, two wonderful kids....but she feels she is missing something in her life. She tells her husband that she needs a break. She suggests two weeks. HE suggests TWO MONTHS! This terrifies her, but she decides to go to Mexico. And not just the tourist Mexico. No, she finds a village, asks to live there as an anthropologist. She finds she likes this lifestyle, terrifying as it is. Not scary danger of loss of life and limb terror. Rather it's what she will discover about herself kind of terror.
She decides that she is also on the search for spirituality. Her travels take her on this path.
My favorite of her settlements has to be New Zealand. Rita seems finally so at ease with herself, she is able to completely immerse herself into the Kiwi life and enjoy it. Plus the fact that I've always wanted to travel there.
This gets a very enthusiastic five beans!

A Lady K and Mommie Production....

Lady K and I had a pretty good day yesterday working on our newest craft project...I think we are onto something.....at least it's fun! And we will be doing this some more...gift-getters beware!!!!

GHOST OF A CHANCE - Kate Marsh, aka Katie MacAlister

Fun choice to read just now. It's a first in a series, but Kate hasn't written them as yet, I guess. I do hope she does so soon, though. It was an entertaining read with a cool view into the lives of poltergeists and other paranormal ghostly entities.
Karma is an 'exterminator'. If your house is haunted, she will get rid of the haunters. She has a good heart, though, and generally takes in the entities she 'cleans'. Her house is chock full of Roman goddesses, polters, imps, cleaning entity called a domovoi, and so on and so forth. Her husband,Spider, is a lying, cheating bastard of a realtor, Karma's father shows her photo proof of just how much of a cheater Spider is and Karma finally agrees to demand a divorce. Spider will agree if she does one last cleansing.
Off to the house she goes and, of course, everything is not what it seems. She meets the man of the house, Adam, who knows nothing of the cleansing let alone the sale of his house.
Spider ends up dead in the basement....the mystery continues. Suspects aplenty and it's a fun, slightly dark story to read. I loved it.
Four beans!

Our Funky Garden...and What It Gives Us....

Above is the crazy part of the garden. We planted the corn, but in amongst this 'feral' side not what we now know are the mini white pumpkin vines, tomato plants we did not plant and hybrid looking yellow squash/pumpkin vines.
The sunflower (we did not plant, but makes the birds and squirrels soooooo freakin' happy) is the demarcation point of tame and feral garden. Behind the tractor are the tomato plants we did plant. The yellow cherry tomatoes are yummy and showed first. The red tomatoes are starting to 'red up' finally. I think we will be able to set Lady K up with her first vegetable stand very soon.

Above....the fruits of our labor...or non-labor as the case may be.....We had the corn as our veggie last night with dinner. YUM!

MIDNIGHT ALLEY: Morganville Vampires, Book 3 - Rachel Caine

I tell ya, this series just keeps getting better! They are exhausting reads since everything and anything keeps happening to these four in the Glass House in short amounts of time. And they are scrappy! They get back up and face the big bad.

Morganville is a town run by and for vampires. It also a college town...hey a vamp's gotta eat, yeah?

Claire is the main character. She's learned a lot for a new in town 16 year old college freshman. She knows to stay away from the mayor's daughter, Monica, a mean biotch (and that's being nice), who would as soon push Claire down a flight of stairs as look at her. There's Jason, brother of Claire's best friend Eve. He is a puh-sycho of the most evil kind and after Claire. Then there are the vamps. Even the nice ones have agendas and Claire plays a part in most of them. Cannot wait to read #4, FEAST OF FOOLS.

Four enthusiastic beans!

QUESTIONABLE REMAINS: A Lindsay Chamberlain Forensic Mystery - Beverly Connor

I finished QUESTIONABLE REMAINS this afternoon when I woke from my pre-mid shift nap. It might have taken me a little longer, but I sort of skimmed the flashbacks to the time when the conquistadors were bringing disease and murder to the Native Americans along the Southeast. That part of the story was sort of extraneous to me even though I am sure it was to parallel the current time story going on.
Dr Lindsay Chamberlain is going on vacation in Tennessee after testifying in a murder trial and the fallout is becoming to be a bit much. Lindsay's idea of vacation is to visit and help at various students' and co-workers' archeological digs. Along the way she has agreed to help a family find out what happened to a brother whose body has been found in a cave. There are some questions that need answering for their closure.
The back story of the conquistadors and Native Americans follows along with the sites Lindsay is visiting, but it took me away from the mystery that was going along.
Three beans.

My "Don't Bother Mommie, She's Watching Her Shows" Shows

Lady K-ism of the day...

"Mommie, my teeth aren't ticklish!" after the dentist was telling her this morning that the polishing brush would just tickle.

Lady K-ism of the day....

"Hey you geese better get out of the road or you'll be geese toast!" to the Canadian geese that were crossing the road to the lake in our neighborhood and taking their sweet time.

BONE YARD - Michelle Gagnon

BONE YARD is another fab suspense thriller from Michelle Gagnon. It gets the reader going immediately and the twists and turns are definitely unexpected, but not gratuitous as some authors like to throw out.
I was completely absorbed with Michelle's first book, THE TUNNELS, when I read it last year. I was both looking forward to and expecting to be disappointed by the follow up book. I am pleased that it was the former than the latter. The debut book of some authors will leave you breathless, the sophomore effort leaves you tossing cookies (and not in that good way because of great descriptions of the kill scene). BONE YARD was one I really did not want to put down, but had to because those pesky folks in my office expect me to be there on time and the lawn has to be mowed, laundry folded, food cooked, sigh.....
I stayed up as late as possible to finish last night, but had to put it down until this morning, so woke to the rather gravelly satisfying ending.
FBI Agent Kelly Jones is about to go on vacation when a hiker on the Appalachian Trail discovers human bones. Agent Jones is assigned to assist the local authorities and becomes enmeshed in a boneyard discovery, animosity from some of the local police and what looks to be more than just this murder.
Five beans!

Today's Lady K-ism...

HELLO EVERYBODY! WE ARE THE SCRATCH-HEAD GIRLS! And you can be a Scratch-Head Girl TOO! *breaks into song* It's time for our dancing song!!1..2..3..a 1,2,3,4!!

THE GHOST - Robert Harris, narr Robert Rees

Very well done by author of a ghostwriter tasked to write the autobiography of a former prime minister of England. He is under extreme deadline, the previous ghostwriter was found washed up on shore at Martha's Vineyard, secrets galore being discovered.
The narrator also won points by making this a very good listen. I am not sure I'd have had the patience to sit and read the book, but Robert Rees had me glued to the carseat in parking lots and my driveway.
Definite four beans!

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR

Another fun day at the movies for the Browning clan. Went to see Mummy 3. Not a great movie, not as good as the first two. I missed Rachel Weisz as Evie, but there was yummy John Hannah as Jonathan and Brendan Fraser again as the dashing Rick. Their son, Alex, has grown up and is an archeologist in his own right and getting into the thick of things in China. Enough good adventure and special effects and an enjoyable time had by all and that counts for three beans.

Space Chimps, the Movie

Okay, I know it's not for everyone. 'Space Chimps' is meant for the young minds, whatever their physical age. Lady K and I were amused and that's what counts.

Two stories in one movie. One is the growing up of Ham the Third, grandson of the last chimp in space. He is a circus performer and gets called up for the space program to locate a lost space probe. Ham 3 is a wee bit full of himself and juvenile in attitude. He meets the real space chimps, Luna, Titan and Comet, and gets a lesson in growing up and they get a lesson in letting their 'inner chimp' out.

The other story is the planet where the space probe crash landed. The inhabitants are already being bullied by a tyrannical dude. Then the space probe crashes on his house and gives him more power to abuse the smaller beings.

All of this with a lot of humor, fairly cool tunes and good voice characterizations by the likes of Jeff Daniels and Patrick Warburton.

We'll get this on DVD when it comes out. Four beans for the sheeer grin factor!

JULY BOOK JOURNAL

THE PRESTIGE - Christopher Priest, BOT, SUPER fantasy ghost story, way better than the movie and I liked the movie

THE BODY IN THE BELFRY - Katherine Hall Page, MPB, good cozy mystery

HOOD - Stephen Lawhead, HB, SUPERB interpretation of the Robin Hood tale, cannot wait to read the rest of the series!

THE WINDING WAYS QUILT - Jennifer Chiaverini, BOCD, wonderful series

THE TRAVELER - John Twelve Hawks, MPB, sci-fi, GOOD! Ready for the rest of the series

DANCING WITH WEREWOLVES - Carole Nelson Douglas, MPB, ehhh...apparently I am not appreciative of the complex plotting of the author...simple minds, simple pleasures..that's me...so won't be looking for more

Books: 4
Audio: 2
Total so far for 2008: 79

A Crop We Did Not Plant

See the above decorative white pumpkins? These are growing in our garden! We did not plant decorative white pumpkins in our garden....We did, however, buy some last year for Halloween and fall decorations. When fall was over and it was time for Christmas decorations, we put the pumpkins out in the compost bin. We used the compost this year for the garden and the seeds must have still been viable. We also have yellow squash from last year, but this is not as prevalent as the white pumpkins. All of these vines are also protecting the volunteer tomato plants that popped up. We are going to have a banner tomato crop this year. Lady K is going to have a vegetable stand in front of the house with the extra tomatoes and white pumpkins and whatever else surprises us in our crazy garden.