all snowed up

Didja hear about that blizzard that blanketed the east coast/mid atlantic this weekend? Well, we managed to get smack in the middle of it. Snow began to fall around 9pm Friday night. By Saturday morning, we were under almost a foot and it continued to come down steadily until nightfall. All told, I think we ended up buried under almost two feet of the stuff. Very pretty. But a total mess to clean up. ack!



In other news, I made a batch of lisabea's famous buckeyes to be part of a party spread, and they were a big hit. nom nom nom. And now I'm going to go eat one of the leftover ones because it feels lonely. heh.

And then I'm off to knit whilst curled up in the armchair. It's that kind of day. I hope you are all safe and warm!

It's still snowing

Well, the weather forecast was right, and I woke up to snow on the ground and a snow day called. woohoo! After a little sleeping in, I woke up and made myself a healthy breakfast and curled up with a cup of coffee and my last library book, To Wed a Wicked Prince by Jane Feather. I'm not in the mood to do a proper review, but in a nutshell, I would say it's an average read. What I like about Feather is that she does give her stories a lot of detail and depth; it doesn't feel wallpaper. But the pace is also quite languid and slow and the book runs a bit long (almost 500 pages).

Prince Alex comes from Russia to England to do some undercover work for the czar, a childhood friend. Or is he on the other side? To be honest, I never did quite figure that bit out. hrm. Anyways, his mother was English but he was raised in Russia and never met her. One of his goals in coming to England is to claim some property owned by his father which includes the house his mother lived in for the rest of her life. She willed it to a strong young lady named Livia for reasons not quite explained in the story. One gets the impression that this book is part of a series and that some of the backstory is contained elsewhere. Alex sees Livia and decides that rather than kick her out of his house, he'll just woo and marry her because he needs a wife as part of his fly-on-the-wall spy scheme. He's very charming and kind of autocratic. Livia is no spring chicken but like any normal woman, she is flattered by his attentions. After their marriage, she begins to wonder about the strange Russian friends that drop by the house at odd hours and Alex's tendency to be peculiar now and again. But at least the sex is still hot. N'stuff. Like I said, the book runs long. It could have used some editing, imo, just to tighten things up. But I have to say that I did like Alex and Livia and enjoyed getting to know them. So overall, not a bad read.

As much as I would have liked to have stayed indoors curled up all day, I did have to venture out to pick up a prescription. This led to a little grocery exursion in which I also brought home some new ingredients to play with in my baking hobby. Flax seed and buckwheat groats. I worked them into a yummy WW recipe for rosemary oatmeal rolls. Very tasty and the house still smells great. I put my radiator units to good use with the bread rising phases. Did I mention that I really like my new place? yeah.

I'm back on WW after picking up a gradual 7 or so pounds over the holiday season. While I'm not anywhere near the danger zone, I don't intend to let things get out of hand. After all, I have a wedding to plan and a dress I want to look and feel good in. So back in the habit and it's a good thing. Paying more attention to what I put in my mouth and eatings lots of fruits and veggies. It works too because I'm already down almost 4 pounds, so yay! Now if I could just get myself to the gym....

Netflix had sent me a movie that I'd forgotten was on my queue. I think the only reason I put it there is because it stars one Gerard Butler. Title of the movie is "Beowulf and Grendel" and it has a lot of hairy men, rocky craigs, and hand to hand fighting. But did I mention Gerry Butler? Oh yeah. Worth seeing just for him and his ever-loving hair. *g* Oh and the extra stuff included some fun interviews with him talking about the movie and the role and I don't really know what else because I was just listening to the accent and not the words. In one part of the interview, it was obviously just after a scene wrap because he was taking off his chain mail and shirt while talking and being all casual and funny. Damn him and his prettiness.

So that's my day. Pretty lazy but that's ok. We all need a snow day now and again.

Gerard Butler and his really BIG sword. *snort*

Ice, Ice, Baby

Yesterday started off with little bouts of snow flurries which turned into freezing rain in the late afternoon. My night class was cancelled which meant more time to lollygag at home. This morning I woke up and checked the school website only to find that due to the weather, we were going to open at noon. yippee! More sleep! And just now, they've updated to say that we're closed all day long. Outside I can see my car encased in ice and the freezing rain continues to fall. So what do you call this? Not a snow day per se. Ice day?

I call it a day in which I ought to be studiously working on a monster Finance project for class night week but in which I'm more happily ensconced watching the last few episodes of Doctor Who Season 3. lol. Procrastination is my specialty.

Bleak Weather, Bleak House

It snowed today. Quite a lot actually for this area. So we all got to go home at noon and my night class was cancelled. Hooray for snow days! I took the opportunity to curl up with my latest period mini-series and appropriately enough on a bleak winter day, I watched the entire set of episodes to Bleak House, all 15 of them. Just finished a few minutes ago.

How was it, you ask? Very entertaining, very good. Why the hell can't we clone the BBC and have a few of them over here making movies on a constant basis? In any event, I'm too tired to write a review. I did, however, find a very comprehensive write-up elsewhere on the web and you can find it by clicking here if you're interested.

High points include Anna Maxwell Martin as the central female character. She's got quite a unique face and very serene yet strong presence. I liked her a lot in North and South and it was nice to see her in a larger role here.

Oh and there is some little known actress named Gillian Anderson that shows up now and again...you might have heard of her? Yeah, actually I never did watch an entire episode of the X-files but it was still a bit weird to see her in period dress and speaking with a British accent. Not bad, just weird. I think she did quite a nice job. Very cold and aloof and stuffy. Lovely, dahling...

Alright, off to bed. Too bad the snow has stopped and I will have to go back to work tomorrow but at least we've been told the office opens an hour later than usual. One more hour to sleep in! Or to get up and read some more of Chesapeake Blue. I do love those Quinn boys!

the joys of shared living space

This will be a quick little post as I'm heading out the door to an internet-less weekend. Yesterday evening I agreed to dogsit from this afternoon until Monday morning back at the house in the country where I was housesitting all November. Great house, very cozy. But yeah, no internet. meh. I am bringing 6 new books and 2 that I need to review. Maybe I'll just curl up with some popcorn and hot cocoa and read for two days non-stop.

All of my roommates except one have cleared out for the holidays. The one who's staying is gone for the weekend. My house is empty. Of course, they were nice enough to leave both sides of the kitchen sink chucked full of dirty dishes, the dishwasher full and un-run, and the stove covered in dirty pots and pans. yay! Merry Christmas to me! And of course this weekend my big plan was to do a major cleaning of the house since my parents are coming to stay starting Monday night. arg! I am really annoyed.

So I've spent the last four hours in domestic bliss. Loading and unloading dishwasher, washing pots and pans, scrubbing grime off the stove, wiping down all counters, sweeping, scouring and mopping the linoleum floor. The fun just never ends. I intended to wash out the fridge too, but that's just going to have to wait. Vacuumed the living room and dining area and realized that I will have to go buy some sort of carpet shampoo because it is atrociously dirty. wahhhh!

Anyways, the sky is threatening and the forecast calls for snow. So I'm off to the other house before I get caught in inclement weather. They do have satellite and BBC America which means Robin Hood and RICHard! Here's hoping I can come back here on Monday morning and finish all of the other cleaning items before picking up the parents at the airport.

There's a whole 'nother level of foreboding at having two weeks of my parents here but that's for another post. I'll leave it with a simple equation. Conservative Christian missionary parents + Muslim African boyfriend = good times fun.

Let it snow (please?)

I'm back to my own house after a month of internet-less house sitting. And of course I'm finding this endless access to the time-suck known as the world wide web to be as addictive as ever. I haven't read more than one book since I got home and that's been all of four days...I should have finished at least four or five! lol.

Actually, what I really should be doing is paying attention to my two MBA courses that are about to finish up next week. Finals and all that. hmm. I feel like I've been skating by, paying just enough attention in class to keep my good grades but not going above and beyond to really dig in and get a lot out of it. Which is silly really because the whole point of getting the damn degree is to learn something. Gotta do better on this next semester. hmmm, mumble mumble.

The forecast is calling for an 80% chance of snow late tonite and tomorrow. Since this is Virginia and people don't know how to drive on one centimeter of snow, there would be a good probability that school (and therefore work, for me) might be cancelled or delayed. So I am rooting for the snow. C'mon...bring it on!
In anticipation of being snowed in, I went to Borders tonite and used my $5 in Borders Bucks towards the purchase of Anna Campbell's new book Untouched. Granted, I didn't read Claiming the Courtesan, but Sybil had some previews up for this book on her blog a while back, and I was intrigued. Also, it seems to be getting pretty good reviews, so I'm looking forward to trying a new author. And hey, with my discount, I paid all of $2 so even if I hate it, it won't be a total loss.

In other reading-related news, I recently came across my audio-book versions of Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Drums of Autumn. Granted, they are the abridged versions but I bought them for a steal at B&N years and years ago and they've been sitting in the boxes I left in storage when I went into Peace Corps. Fun to run across them now and give them a whirl. I love listening to audiobooks, especially at night in the dark when I'm trying to fall asleep. It's like having someone tell you a story at bedtime. Only problem of course is when the story is too engaging and you stay awake because you don't want to miss anything. Tonight I am going to be listening to Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts. My library just started having audiobook downloads (for free!) but their selection of romance audiobooks is pretty pathetic. Lots of Delinsky, Coulter and Macomber. I'm hoping that by checking out the few that are actually good, they will get good stats as to popularity and maybe they will add more to the catalogue. Go check out the selection and give me any recommendations that you might have.

If I could only get an audiobook read by Richard Armitage, I think my life would be complete. Can you imagine falling asleep to that sexy voice? Guaranteed good dreams!

I hope to awake to a winter wonderland...wish me luck!