bookshelves of doom

Future bag.

Soon to be in my Etsy shop -- a bag displaying the best Hardy Boys picture I've ever come across (from a decrepit copy of The Arctic Patrol Mystery):

Heh.

Recent Dress #4.

Josh made me sit on the woodpile (but do note that he was nice enough to put a jacket down so I wouldn't snag my tights):

My hair is doing something insane (which everyone really should be used to at this point, but this picture was taken after work today, so I have an excuse for once), and I'm making my classic "I hate having my picture taken, so I'm not going to even pretend to enjoy this and even though it's me who wants to document my sewing projects, I'm going to act like a complete puke the entire time the camera is pointed in my general direction" face, but if you ignore all of that, you'll notice my awesomely massive collar.  The fabric of the dress is a medium brown with a white pinstripe, and I tied my (well, Josh's, but I borrowed it) tie with an Atlantic knot. 

I used this Simplicity pattern from 1970, and I made it a size bigger than I'd usually wear, both because I thought it would be more comfy that way and because I was being lazy and didn't want to fiddle with re-sizing the pattern:

Even though it looks short on the middle lady, either her legs are three miles long or I'm a stump, because I had to hack a good five inches off of the bottom before it hit me above the knee.

I am not Bill Cosby.

So, due to my newfound obsession with vintage sewing patterns, I have a few saved eBay searches.  Including one for "Mondrian sewing patterns", in the hopes that it'll turn up something along the lines of this famous dress:

So, obviously, I was all atwitter when I opened my email and saw that I had a hit.

My excitement didn't last long.

BEHOLD THE HORROR:

 

And I don't like how it's waving at me.   It's creepy. 

I just...

...was inspired re: Christmas presents.

Obviously, I can't say anything, as there are spies everywhere.

But post-Christmas, there will be pictures.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this gem:

My apologies to those of you who were already subjected to this monstrosity on Facebook. 

What I've been up to.

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much lately.

I have many reasons (not excuses, mind -- reasons!).

Reason #1:  OH MY GOD THE CYBILS.  Lots and lots more to read still, including the massive box of S&S books that arrived today.

Reason #2:  I've discovered the world of vintage sewing patterns.  (There are loads more links at A Dress A Day.)  So much of my time online lately has been spent wandering and reading and, yes, buying.  And then there's the sewing.  This is the third dress I've made recently (I posed to match the lady on the pattern envelope.  Why do they stand like that?):

Reason #3:  Josh and I recently spent an afternoon rolling out characters for the Star Wars roleplaying game.  So when I haven't been reading for the Cybils or sewing or tracking down more dress patterns, I've been totally geeking out about the Star Wars universe.  (I'm playing a character who is super-strong, super-nimble, super-hot, and completely lacking in common sense.  And Josh is playing someone who's wicked stinky and very smart.  So that'll be fun.)

Reason#4:  Tallboy #2.  I'm just finishing up with the formatting, and it's on track to ship on December 1st.  I'll get a pre-order form up tomorrow or Friday, but here's the cover:

 

My apologies...

...to anyone who had to put up with my Twitter freakout last night, which consisted of many tweets along these lines:

 

I blame Courtney Summers for recommending the Scariest Movie EVER:

Just so you know how completely pathetic I am:  I watched the trailer through my fingers.

Just so you know what a total jerkface my husband is:  after the movie was over, he went outside and tiptoed around to different windows, tap-tap-tapping them until I hid in the middle of the house where there are no windows.

Just so you know how I really felt about the movie:  I called my father to tell him that he HAD to go out and buy it, because it was utterly awesome and had great effects, good acting and a great storyline and because even though it made me so scared I thought I was going to barf, I adored it.  (Then I stayed on the phone with him until Josh got tired of waiting for me to walk by another window and came back inside.)

Never fear.

I'm still alive.

I've just been very busy:

A)  Reading for the Cybils.
B)  Working my way through the TBRT#2 submissions.

Also, I've been distracted by:

A)  That &%*$ D&D online game.
B)  A three-day party this past weekend that was literally the most amazingly debauched event I have ever witnessed.

Other factors:

A)  The lack of daylight.  I do most of my posting in the morning, and I have an incredibly hard time getting up when it is still dark out.  Daylight Savings kicks in soon (I think?), and that'll help.  (Unless it already did, and then I'll know that I REALLY have problems.)
B)  Overwhelm-ed-ness leading to procrastination.  I have a pile of 20+ books waiting to be written up sitting right behind my head.  I'm thinking I might just clear the decks with a mega-post about all of them.  Or most of them, at any rate.  Kind of like how every once in a while I need to delete everything in my RSS reader to start fresh.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has expressed concern or checked in with me via email!  All is well.

My big confession.

I have developed a (possibly unhealthy) addiction to the D&D Online game.

I CANNOT STOP PLAYING.

On the one hand, my Paladin is cutting a swath through the kobold ranks (who, depending on how the day has gone, may or may not look a whole lot like certain library patrons and it's doing wonders for my mood)... but on the other, the game has seriously cut into my reading and blogging time.

So.  As with all of my little addictions, the early freakout will last for a little while and then I'll calm down and settle into a more reasonable schedule.

Until then, BRING ON THE *($()#&%#* KOBOLDS!

 

Wow.  Occasionally the truth hits home:  I am a huge, huge geek.

Did you know...

...that one serving of Necco wafers is AN ENTIRE ROLL?

So you all can stop looking askance at my Necco intake over the last few days.

(I hope that the revamp works out for them.  And me.)

 

Banned Books Week, 2009.

Here's the wicked dorky picture of yours truly that will be part of our BBW display this year:

All of those books next to me (and behind me, and on the arm of the couch) are books I've read that have been challenged in this country at some point over the last five years.

(Well, they're the ones that happened to be checked in at the time of the photo.)

Links:

Challenged and Banned Books Google Map
The ALA's Most Challenged Books of 2008 list
The ALA Banned Books Week page
Wikipedia's List of Books Banned by Governments

I'm back.

After a week of being miserably ill (though not, thankfully, with The Swine), I'm back in action.

What a relief.

Being so sick that even piles of new books don't tempt me = not good.

I spent the majority of my waking hours (which were not many) watching stuff via Netflix Watch Instantly.  Highlights:

I watched Dogfight for the first time, and I loved it, and it made me sob.  And I think I would have sobbed even if I'd been healthy.  I'm still kicking myself for having put it off for so long.

And I got hooked on Wire in the Blood, which is based on some of Val McDermid's books (so now I need to read her!).  It's a great British gritty crime/cop show, though it's graphic enough that I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. 

The two main characters have some pretty incredible sexual tension going on, but as I'm only partway through Season Two, I don't know if they ever actually act on it.  This trailer makes it look super cheesy and been-there-done-that, but it really isn't:

If you've been wondering where you stand...

...the Nerd Venn Diagram may come in helpful.

(On most days, I can pass as a geek.  But occasionally, my social ineptitude resurfaces and my true nerdiness is apparent.)

Lookalikes.

Washington Irving:

 

And the Wizard of Oz:

Don't you think?  Maybe it's just the hair.

*&!%$%*& Fairpoint.

A gross stomach bug + problems with our internet connection = my recent absence.

I feel much better now, and the internet seems to be feeling better as well.

Though judging by the absolutely craptastic service we've had this year, I don't have much confidence in the latter lasting very long.

Everything about this article is a win.

The title:  Science ponders 'zombie attack'

The head researcher:  Professor Robert Smith? (the question mark is not a typo)

The analysis:  "hit them [the undead] hard and hit them often"

The vindication:  Now that zombie research is Serious Business, people will have to stop mocking the Roy Girls for our "silly" Zombie Apocalypse Plans.

(link via my sister)

Via my sister.

I don't think this is supposed to make me salivate:

This is why you're fat.

But it does.

Grrrrrr.

So.  Some work is being done on our road.

And although I don't have to be at work until eleven today, I had to leave the house THREE HOURS EARLY because Mrs. Across The Street is apparently An Insanely Important Road-Fixing Expert Genius Woman, and found it necessary to stand in the middle of the road and yell directions and advice to the Road Commissioner.  Loudly.  Right outside my living room window.

So my Tasha Alexander write-up may be postponed.

I will watch this video again and again until my rage cools to a simmer:

Last night, I wasn't thinking about having to go to work this morning.

Thanks to our friend Jonas, we are now the happy owners of Settlers of Catan.

So we stayed up way too late and my throat is sore from all of the squawking I did. 

And now all I want to do is play more.  And get the expansion packs.

Grace.

Grace opened in Portland a few weeks ago, and we went last night.

I was expecting it to feel overly swank or overly hip -- it is, after all, a restaurant and bar in a church -- but it didn't.  At all.  The entrees are pricey (for us), but the drinks and bar food are reasonable, and I just felt comfortable there.

We sat at the bar, which I thought would feel exposed and weird, but it didn't -- it felt cozy.  We didn't get a chance to walk along the balconies to get a different view of the space, but we'll have to next time.  Oh yes, there'll be a next time. 

Definitely worth a visit when you're in town, even if only to see how beautifully the owners have restored the building and how they've integrated the restaurant into it.

Thumbs up.

Sadly, I've had similar conversations.

From Not Always Right:

Customer: “Where are you?”

Me: “I am in Bangor, Maine.”

Customer: “Oh. Is that in New York?”

More sewing.

I've been sewing like a champ -- and I'm all about Nancy Drew bags at the moment. 

Just added two to my Etsy shop that feature illustrations I rescued from a falling-apart copy of The Mystery at Lilac Inn:

Back in action.

Thanks to everyone whose comments and emails encouraged me out of my crank.

Though I don't tend to comment on them, kidlitosphere kerfuffles take it out of me -- I just want us all to talk about books and be happy.  And business like this and this makes me want to just read books and ignore the internet.  Books and yapping about books are my escape and my lurrrve, and I don't want to associate either with unpleasantness and strife. 

But I'm back, after two weeks of reading and reading and sewing and more reading.  (And sleeping in!)

Blogger's ennui.

I have it.

I'll be back as soon as it passes.

Still here.

It's just that it's been raining for 1,001 days and it's all I can do to get out of bed in the morning, let alone write about anything.

I don't know how you Washington State people do it.

Because distractions are welcome on Friday.

Funny Exams:

Can you feel the love?

Me, just now, to Josh:

I'm watching The Railway Children tonight, and you can go to Hell.

NOTE:  This was right after he called me Nellie Oleson, told me to ask my daddy for a licorice whip AND THEN asked me to reserve the library's Fellowship of the Ring DVD. 

THE NERVE.

If you don't like something...

...just burn it down!

Note:  I AM BEING SARCASTIC.

See, I had a real affection for the Topless Coffee Shop.  Not because I ever went -- I can't remember the last time I was actually in Vassalboro -- but because it's been in the news here for a good year now, and the fact that the story has made our local newscasters say 'Topless Coffee Shop' on a weekly basis for that long just made me laugh.

I think it's horrible that someone torched it.  And I think that the lady quoted in the article, while expressing a similar sentiment, might be a little confused about how that glass houses/stones saying works.

Links.

• The SBBT rides again!  I wasn't able to get it together to participate this time around*, but I'll very definitely be following along.
• The Guys Lit Wire Book Fair continues.
• I keep meaning to mention that Flux now has a podcast.  So here I am, mentioning it.
• Drama continues in the YA blogosphere.
• Authors respond to bad reviews at The Worst Review Ever.
• Have you been following the AV Club's Nashville or Bust column?  I haven't agreed with everything the author has had to say, but yay him for bringing attention to country music -- and note that I'm talking non-Shania-Twain-pretendy-country.
• There'd better be a bazillion pictures posted online, dammit.  Definitely something I'd love to see in person. 
• Oh, MAKE IT STOP.
• YES.  For all of those readers (myself included) who sometimes get a little paranoid that the excessive reading might be causing carpal tunnel.  What?  Really?  I'm the only one?  Damn.
• Dollhouse was renewed, which means that I will stop being a baby and actually watch the rest of Season One.
• Now that my reading slump is over, all I want to do is read.  So off I go.

________________________________________________________________

*I have, you know, stuff going on.  Due to ship next week!  YOWZA.

Reading slump and other sadness.

I'm in a reading slump.  In the middle of no less than four books and none of them are doing a whole lot for me.  NO FUN!

In yay news, though, we watched the Fringe season finale last night, and WHOA.  Many crazy things ensued/were revealed.  But this whole following-the-show-as-it-airs-rather-than-waiting-until-there-are-multiple-seasons-on-DVD thing is for the birds.  I need instant gratification, dammit, not three (four?) months of waiting for Season Two.  HA-rumph.

Also, I ran over a chipmunk on the way to work yesterday.  Why did he wait until the car was right in front of him AND THEN dive into the road?  What on the world could cause a chipmunk to become suicidal?

AND we have a staff meeting this morning.  How depressing.

Blame the lack of posting on Good Deed Time and one other (less admirable) thing.

No review -- or much of anything -- this morning, because I was too busy perusing the wishlist at the GuysLitWire/InsideOUTWriters Book Fair for Boys.

I ended up donating copies of Stephen King's On Writing, Graham McNamee's Acceleration and Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story.

If you use guyslitwire@gmail.com at the Powell's Wishlist Lookup page, you can see the full book list, and, if you've got a few spare dollars and the desire, you can very easily donate a book or two.

For a full explanation of the project, as well as complete ordering instructions (like, where to have the books shipped -- very important!) see this post at Guys Lit Wire.

________________________________________________________________

I will now go back to reading the rumors about a possible Holmes/Cruise divorce. 

Yes, I am ashamed of myself.

But not so ashamed that I will stop.

I need to request a weekend off...

...because it's time, once again, for MotherReader's 48-Hour Book Challenge.

In the car, post Star Trek.

Josh:  Well, that was pretty go--

Me:  <bouncing>  YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Josh:  Yeah, I'm not a huge Trek person, but I lik--

Me:  -AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!Ican'tbelieveIlikedtheguywhoplayedKirk!Ididn'tthinkIwouldbecausejustlookathimbutIdid!AndLeonardNimoy!LeonardNimoy!SimonPegg!Sulufighting!Andtheredshirthahaha!AndLeonardNimoy!YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Josh:  Yep. 

Me:  -AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!AndIneverwanttogotoaregulartheateragainIlovetheImax!AndIalwaysthoughtKarlUrbanwasameatheadIdon'tknowwhyIhaven'tseenhiminmuchbuthewasAWESOME!AWESOME!AndLeonardNimoy!AndIdidn'tthinkofSylarasSylaratall...  <panting> Yaaaay.  <rapidly winding down>

Josh:  ...

Me:  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Seriously.  I wound myself up and crashed like a two-year-old. 

My poor husband.

I'm with Beth.

I, too, covet the Zombie Donkey tee:

 

(via Beth)

I have got to re-subscribe to Smithsonian...

...because the stuff they run is just so darn cool.

Busy. Very busy.

What with the Annual Appeal at work and finalizing the line-up for TBRT (to anyone who is still waiting to hear back, I'm almost there, I promise) and geocaching and still trying to figure out what the hell kind of swallow is attempting to boss its way through the front door (I swear, it sounds like a cat scratching on the door... OR A ZOMBIE!), I haven't had the time to write about the new Sarah Dessen book or anything else that I've read recently.

So.  Entertain yourself with this.

[Later:  And this.  Robin McKinley posted it ages ago, but I only just read it, and wow, it's hilarious.  (via Angie)]

Things will be back to normal soon.

[Later:  I hope.]

Thinking ahead.

The bookcase coffin.

Leila: Nature Girl.

I now know the difference between a peeper frog call and a wood frog call.  (Wood frogs sound like ducks and peepers sound like, well, peepers.  You can hear them both in this video.)

I watched a fox trot all over our yard this morning. 

We either have a mouse in the house or our dog is staring at something out the window.  I'm pretty sure it's the latter, as the cat has absolutely no interest.  But she's unpredictable, so you never know.

SLJ BOB update.

The Match Three results are in!

And there'll be Big Trouble from these ladies if The Hunger Games* doesn't win (I've embedded it here, but it's really worth clicking through to read the lyrics!):

_________________________________________________________________________

*Speaking of, it should be noted that at Easter dinner this past weekend, all of the kids in attendance tore around the backyard with foam swords and reenacted The Hunger Games.  Said activity resulted in pictures like this:

I love my family.

Links.

• SLJ's BOB has begun.  Don't miss Matches One and Two.  Oh, and you can keep an eye on it all at Twitter.
• I went out adventuring and found a couple of geocaches yesterday.  Still loving it, and I want to find more, more, more!  Talked about it with my cousin at Easter dinner, and it turns out that she and her family do the letterboxing thing.  There is never enough time to do all of the things I want to do.  Thanks again to JCH for inspiring me.
• Judith Krug, founder of Banned Books Week, died Saturday at the age of 69.
• #amazonfail is the Big Big of the day.  See Gwenda and Ed for much more information and many, many links.
• With only one book under my belt (what does that mean, anyway?), I've finally decided to Go The Easy Way and bow out of the V.C. Andrews Challenge.  I just can't take the pain.  I apologize for being a total weenie.
• I'm still working on picking the last few stories for Issue #1 of TBR Tallboy.  It's TOUGH.  More bulletins as events warrant.

Serious lack of posting today, due to...

...the fact that I was madly trying to finish City of Glass before work.  (ALMOST made it!  Grrr.)

So enjoy some Goober and the Peas instead:

And this bizarre Blanche video:

Although I was sad about not quite finishing my book, I was intensely jazzed to see the REAL first sign of spring (not robins) on my way into work:  a kite in a tree.

Zombies on NPR.

There's an excerpt from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies up at NPR. 

Wow.  I'm a little embarrassed at how much I'm looking forward to reading it.

I wonder if I can talk the library director into getting the audio.  If there is an audio.  If there isn't, there should be.

Then again, that might not be safe in this case -- hysterical laughter + car ≠ safe driving.

The most amazing sweater of all time.

Or at least of this morning.

I'm still alive, I swear!

It's just that spring has just about sprung and I've been doing just about everything BUT hang out with the computer.

I'll be back soon, I'm sure.

Stuff.

Item 1:  We are no longer a one-car family.  Which is awesome.

Item 2:  Due to Item 1, I've been doing the audiobook thing, which I've never really done before.  My first attempt?  The audio version of Hunted.  I made it about two chapters in before switching to the print version, because yelling, "SHUT UP, ZOEY!  JUST.  SHUT.  UP."  at the radio was not making for a very relaxing car ride.  The print version is just as annoying, but it goes much more quickly.

Item 3:  More on that audio.  It was interesting that the reader sounded like a twelve-year-old.  On one hand, the narrator's youthful voice made me less inclined to be annoyed with Zoey's immaturity and idiocy.  On the other, it creeped me out to hear that young voice say the word 'erotic' 57 times in two minutes.

Item 4:  I've had a stiff neck since Wednesday.  So I've been walking like a robot.  Which would be hilarious if it were someone else, but as it's me, is not.

Item 5:  I didn't just freak out and buy the GPS handheld thingie.  Oh, no.  I also bought Battle Royale and the entire Austin series.

Item 6:  We watched the pilot episode of Castle last night.  It was entertaining enough, though if it hadn't featured Nathan Fillion smirking for an hour, I probably wouldn't worry about making time for it in the future.  As it does, though...  I giggled like a freak at the James Patterson cameo.  And the Cannell.  I hope they do more of that. 

Later:

Item 7:  There are only two weeks left in this submission period -- so if you want your piece to be considered for the inaugural issue, send it on in.

Excuses, excuses.

This is going to be yet another mostly post-less morning because A) I spent the first part of it finishing up North of Beautiful (which I mostly loved, more on that later) which led to B) an obsessive hour of reading up on GPS trackers and C) exploring this geocaching website.

It snowed again this morning.

Spring can't get here soon enough.

February is the pits.

Another fourteen inches of snow AND the stomach flu?

NO FAIR.

Surprise!

I came home to two books I was hoping for (The Forest of Hands and Teeth and Kisses and Lies) AND to the news that Josh went out and bought Pulp Fiction (I don't know how we went this long without owning it) and Season One of Gossip Girl!

Also, there's beer.

HOORAY!  It's going to be a good night.

I would like these for my birthday, please.

But that's in a million years, so if anyone feels like baking, like, right now, I'll be your taste tester:

There seem to be three separate plagues circulating in Kennebunk...

...and I got slammed by two of them.

Thus the lack of posting this week.  So sorry about that, but this/thesecold/s is/are so bad that I haven't done much of anything this week other than sit by the woodstove, work on a puzzle (Which I finished yesterday -- and then promptly ordered two more -- I CAN'T STOP!) and watch Buffy.  I haven't even been reading.  It's extremely pathetic.

Oh.  Also, a reminder to anyone who is thinking about submitting a piece to TBR Tallboy: we've reached the halfway point in this round -- so you've got approximately six more weeks until the March 31st deadline.

I heart my state.

Cop couplets: Police in Maine make poetry calendar

I hope it's as cool as the Bachelor Lobstermen of Maine calendar.  Though, really -- how could it be?