YF’s Neighborhood

I'm not feeling very social - online - recently. Not sure why.

I've been spending a lot of my free time playing silly Facebook games, they
are stupidly addicting. I knew I shouldn't have even glanced at one. They're
like homeless puppies, you just can't give 'em up.

Work has been slow this week, this whole month seems slow since I'm waiting
on not only my Nook but also Star Trek on Blu-Ray. Amazon gave me a great
price and promised it would be on my doorstep the day it was released. I
wonder if my Nook will be shipped with the same speed? That's one thing that
rocks about Amazon - their shipping with high profile items.

As much as I hate to admit it, because I really wanted to keep breastfeeding
& pumping until she was a least a year old, I think I might stop
breastfeeding soon. I can't seem to keep up on the medication that keeps my
supply even sufficient enough (we've been having to give her bottles of
formula at night before bed), and even if I do there's no promise that my
supply will even last much longer. Plus, I can't even fathom dieting and
losing weight while doing this and recently I've become so disgusted with my
body. That great feeling I had from knowing that I'd successfully lost all
the weight I put on with the baby is gone and now I'm just left with the
realization that I was fat before the baby too.

But I feel there is a lot standing in my way. I know that if I thought about
it, I could get past it all, but it's hard. I need to learn how to cook -
and to find recipes within my budget and experience level for just two
people. I also need to make the time to exercise as I know that dieting
alone will only do so much. My schedule is very limiting because I have to
wake up at 5am to go to work - and once I get home I just want to spend time
with my family. Most nights I'm in bed by 8:30-9pm, it's a grueling schedule
but it's not changing until AT LEAST Christmas.

But, now that I think about it, I can do it. I can change my schedule at
Christmas, breastfeed until then which'll take me to at least 9 months, and
then start trying to get myself into shape. I hate being a fat mom. I hate
perpetuating the American stereotype of fat, lazy, and careless. I do care.

You guys might remember I was talking early last week about wanting to
buy a Nook for Christmas, and I did - I pre-ordered it on Wednesday. I
figure this can be my Christmas present from anyone who wants to gift
me :) If not, then it'll just come out of my savings for a few months.

I'm really excited! I went online today and began my "eBook wish list"
and I can't wait to start filling it up. I also found a website that I
can sell some of my books to. Not all of my books are in the eBook
format, but the ones that are I'll probably sell and use that money to
repurchase in eBook format. I think my first set of purchases might be
Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, as those books are HUGE and being
able to carry all SIX (plus her companion book, that indexes
everything from between the first & fourth books) around in one teeny
device will be a dream come true - who knows, I might actually be able
to get through re-reading the series again!

So, anyone want to donate to my Nook fund, or eBook fund? :P

I remember well, the time we went after church one Sunday. We had
a larger group, six of us, no children. We had this waiter who
seemed...off. We'd all worked customer service before though, so
we didn't judge him too harshly. But after he brought us our food,
we never saw him again. We kept waiting & waiting & waiting -
really just wanting to pay and be out of there - but nothing. At last
we found someone else and let the know we just want to pay so we could
leave. Later we were told our waiter had QUIT, and walked out the
door. The owner had to call the cops because apparently he left with
people's credit cards - in his huff.

Very strange indeed.

Oh a puppy - all the way. Sure, babies come with a lot of clutter
but it's acceptable to put a baby in diapers and it's expected
to have 24-hour care. When you get a puppy, it's NOT acceptable to
use diapers - you're supposed to train them. And it's
acceptable to leave them alone for hours at a time so there is more of
a chance of mess. When Ripley was a puppy she chewed on everything
from carpet & wicker baskets to Paul's Playstation 3 - NO
JOKE.

I purchased Sabriel - by Garth Nix - as an eBook a few weeks ago, and
finished it on Monday. DAMN that's a good book. Even though I knew
what was going to happen I was still enthralled, held by the suspense,
and chilled by the visuals created.

If you've never read it, do it! I would characterize it as fantasy for
people who generally don't read fantasy. It didn't require a map, a
genealogy chart, or an index of terms. It wasn't a thousand pages long
and require three books before and three books after to understand.
Just an awesome read with fantastic descriptions and a brilliant plot.
Nix's idea of Death, a cold multi-layered river that necromancers wade
through, is amazing. The writing itself is also very...flowy I guess
you'd say? Not flowering, but just so easy to read that I want to read
it out loud with cultural accents and excited hand motions. Despite
it's seemingly dark story, this is a book I'd love to read aloud to or
at least with Evy when she gets older.

One thing I'd say though is: Give it time. My sister recently began to
read it and she found it a bit confusing at first. Having reread it, I
can understand. If you're not used to fantasy and plunging into
another world, it could take some time to get used to and comprehend.

Here's a good synopsis, if you're interested:

"After receiving a cryptic message from her father, Abhorsen, a
necromancer trapped in Death, 18-year-old Sabriel sets off into the
Old Kingdom. Fraught with peril and deadly trickery, her journey takes
her to a world filled with parasitical spirits, Mordicants, and Shadow
Hands. Unlike other necromancers, who raise the dead, Abhorsen lays
the disturbed dead back to rest. This obliges him--and now Sabriel,
who has taken on her father's title and duties--to slip over the
border into the icy river of Death, sometimes battling the evil forces
that lurk there, waiting for an opportunity to escape into the realm
of the living. Desperate to find her father, and grimly determined to
help save the Old Kingdom from destruction by the horrible forces of
the evil undead, Sabriel endures almost impossible exhaustion, violent
confrontations, and terrifying challenges to her supernatural
abilities--and her destiny."

Thanks to Jenni who suggested it :)

Are you shocked to see me here?  Are you expecting another whiny/venting post?  I don't blame you one bit, but I'm actually posting about a band I saw perform last night.  :D

I took a friend's daughter to see Paramore at the Tabernacle last night, and you know what?  It was a freaking kick-ass show.  I caught a lot of grief for 1) taking a 15 year old to a concert and 2) for going to see Paramore in the first place, but I love teen angst music.  So you haters can just suck it.  LOL  And that girl has some pipes and is just a phenomenal performer.  So the show was so worth the crappy drive down there in rainy rush hour traffic.  :D

Paramore had two opening bands, and I immediately fell in love with one of them...a little punk band from Michigan called The Swellers.  Check 'em out:

http://www.myspace.com/theswellers

They have a new album out and I've had it on repeat all day long.  Love the music, love their voices, just love everything about them...especially the fact that they're cute as hell.  :D

So give them a listen.  I'm sure they won't be to everyone's tastes, but I was totally impressed by their live performance.  Especially since the lead singer had strep and still killed the show anyway.  The guys were all really approachable after the show too, so I want to help spread the word.  :)

Enjoy!

Where do you start & where do you end?

I live near Los Angeles, so
that's a natural first. I'd end in Maine because I'm more
interested in seeing the north east than the south east.