Novel Reaction.com

As many of you know, I am a reader. By reader I mean someone who is constantly reading novels (I average three a week currently) and I own more books than most county libraries. (As those who helped us move can attest to.) While cataloging my books I started to think about clean romance novels, my favorite books, and how hard it can be to trust a romance novel when you don't know if the author is writing something clean or sexual. As I was mulling over this conundrum, my friend Susi came over to my house to borrow some books and commented on how she and her sister would really like a list of good authors from me that they could trust. This got me thinking further about who do you trust to recommend books and how what I might think is too graphic could be fine for someone else. Later that week my friend Michelle asked me to recommend an author that she could read as she had taken a book recommended by a librarian and found it to be more graphic than she really likes.

Me, being me, I thought how interesting it was that everyone should be having this same problem, who do you trust?! I started searching online for sources that I could recommend to them as I knew I was leaving and wouldn't be seeing them regularly anymore. To my surprise I found that there is one website out there that recommends clean romance novels. That's it, just one.

After discussing my findings with Colby and thinking about it further I decided to create a website where people can go for recommendations that have a rating attached that is clear and precise regarding the sexuality of a novel. Of course, it is always a good idea to start a large project while you are trying to move and start law school. ;) So, today I am unveiling my website...drum roll please... NovelReaction.com .

Please forgive me as I continue to work on it to make it better but at least we are up and running. Also, as a way to support my reading habit, if you are going to purchase a book I have recommended I would really appreciate it if you did so through one of the links on the website.

I am also open to suggestions for authors or books to read. I am going to be posting contemporary authors and authors that are older who are clean. Hopefully, I will be adding a new book at least every other week so check back often as it will be constantly updated.

Funhouse

Last weekend Colby's sister Lachelle, sister-in-law Kim, and Kim's sister Ashley came and visited us for the weekend. Lachelle wanted to go to a mission farewell and Kim, brilliant woman that she is, figured out that P!nk was in concert, so us girls got tickets and went. It was an incredible concert including flying people, ballet and string quartets. I have to admit that I felt a little out of place by not having any pink in my hair. P!nk sings everything live, which always impresses me more than having a pre-recorded concert. I also really enjoy her encorporation of traditional musical instruments such as a cello and string bass with electric guitar and upbeat song. It was nice to have them visit us and to be forced to take a break from school.

It was great to have Kim visit and go shopping with her again. While living in Salt Lake, Kim and I used to leave the boys home and go shopping on the weekends. I have missed that, having good girl chats while perusing cute clothes. (In case you are wondering, I found a great suit for $40.00 so it was a succesful trip from my point of view ;) ).

Jillian Homecoming

Somehow, when I wasn't watching, Jillian started growing up. We drove to St. George this weekend so I could help her get ready. She looked fabulous!
She was super excited to go! Her date wasn't as excited when D.J. and Matt met him at the door with pistols in their waistbands and threats. Needless to say, she was home on time.

The dance was at Ford and one of the managers had to be there the whole time so Dad was a chaperon at her first dance. I know, scary thought!

September 11th

On Labor Day, I pried Colby from the room that has become his cave and we went to the Firefighters Museum. It was fabulous! They have machines dating from 1700s that have been restored by the museum founder. In addition, there was a great tribute to the firefighters who lost their lives on September 11th. It was very fitting that we saw the memorial the week of the anniversary of such a travesty.
Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity to hear an attorney who represented 8 victims of the 9-11 attack in getting money for the victims. All his work was pro-bono, meaning he didn't get paid. Over 1,000 attorneys nationwide, in parts of Canada and in Mexico donated their time to represent victims free of charge. The fund was set up as a way to assist those who were injured in the rescue and recovery act. The stories were incredibly moving.

This is the remains of a statute that stood at the base of the Two Towers prior to their falling, this is what remains. It is an Art Deco representation of Atlas with the world on his shoulders. It seems very fitting that the world cracked after the towers fell. Colby and I saw it when we were in New York in 2005.

I am sure you are like me, and remember exactly where you were when you found out and how you spent the day (glued to the TV like me). Let us never forget the horrific events that occurred, changing our world forever and the men and women who worked so hard and lost so much!

Rag Rug

I recently learned how to make rag rugs. This is a craft I have been wanting to learn for some time as it is a great use of fabric remnants. You connected the fabric pieces together and, using the largest crochet hook I have ever seen, crochet the rags together. The cream fabric was a set of sheets that were worn out and I had been keeping to use in a project of some sort. I think it turned out well and I now have a cushy rug placed in front of my kitchen sink.

Resolutions Revisited

This weekend I was able to finally finish one of my UFOs (Unfinished Objects)! Hooray! This tablecloth was originally started by my Grandmother McArthur and she finished about half of it. She passed away when I was about fifteen so let's just say I have had this in my project pile for awhile. As I was thinking about how excited I was to finally finish a UFO I started to think about my New Years' Resolutions. I am always really good about setting them but, I have to admit, I usually forget them by about February so I decided now is a good time to review how I am doing.
Here they are:

1. Not kill my husband (the never ending battle) :)
   
2. Lose weight (my goal is a size six, I am almost there)
3. Finish some UFOs (hopefully by this time next year I will be ahead)
4. Be a better budgeter (I really like to go shopping)
5. Focus on spending more time with my husband (I have a tendency, a bad one, to schedule him last into my schedule when I should be putting him first)

So far:

1. I have not killed Colby
   
2. I have not lost any weight but I have not gained any and I am one week into the P90X program (let's just say every muscle in my body has hurt for the last week)
   
3. I have one UFO done and one almost completed (hopefully finished by next weekend)
4. I am a better budgeter since I have quit my job and we are living on a much smaller income, it is amazing what necessity will do for the learning curve ;)
5. I spend a lot of time with Colby now because he works from home and I am home studying more (and I don't have the huge group of friends and events I had in SLC to take me away)

I would have to say over all I am not doing too bad but I am resolved to work a little harder on some of them so I can have a good report come New Years next year.

New Home Foibles

One fun (or not so fun) aspect of moving into a new home is adjusting to all its foibles. Our house is great for the most part but for the first three weeks we had a problem with the power in the back room that we are using as Colby's office. For those of you who don't know, we have been blessed to have Colby be able to telecommute from Phoenix, keeping the same job he had in Salt Lake City. This means that having the computer up and running is vital. We discovered that if we have the computer on in the room and the printer, it would cause a brown-out in the room and shut the computer down. This was a major problem for me with school going. Our temporary solution to the problem, while we waited for the landlord to come take a look at it, was to run an extension cord from the printer to another room in the house. The problem has now been resolved but it was funny to see for the first couple of weeks.

Poor Smokey Joe is having a hard time adjusting to the heat. Our living room is carpeted (our last house was hardwood floor) and he has not been happy with it, as a result he has taken over the bottom shelf of the bookcase in my living room and I haven't been able to convince myself make him stop. So my bookcase looks funny with all the other shelves completely full and the bottom left empty.

Jojo really struggled when we first got down here, he is getting old (he is now 17 years old) and doesn't handle change well anymore. About two weeks after we moved in I opened the blinds in the livingroom so he could look out by sitting on the back of the futon. This was the first time he had looked outside since we moved. He took one look out the window, looked at me in panic, meowed and then ran to spend the rest of the day under the bed. He's doing better now and tries to get outside to roll in the dirt everytime a door opens.

My laundry room is a room that was added onto the house later and is not insulated or air conditioned, this means that in this heat the tempature is about 100 degrees (without me running the machines). I have to keep reminding myself that I can't leave any food in it (even though it is right off the kitchen and would be very convenient for my Costco shopping), it is too hot and even canned goods will go bad in that heat. Oh well, at least I won't have to worry about scraping snow and ice off my car when winter comes.