Musing Monday #34

With the New Year here already, do you have any reading resolutions or goals (challenges aside) for 2010? Perhaps a new author? Genre? Want to read more non-fiction? Write more reviews?

Well I think I have gone over my goals pretty good in the last few days. But I don’t mind doing a recap for the sake of musing Monday. I have my challenges of course, but mostly I would like to put a dent in my TBR pile. I would like to cut back on ordering books from PBS and try to stick to my wish listed books and maybe one other one a month or so. And really just work on getting books read and the big massive pile cleaned up a bit.

I am also planning as always to write my reviews and stay on top of them (I hope) as well as do some more writing just for me. Or I should say for my new blog too, ha ha. The Marked Ambrosia Project is going fairly well so far.

The Sunday Salon #14

The Sunday Salon.com

Another Sunday has come, but this one is the first Sunday of the New Year. I sat back and looked at things today. The new is just another day, it isn’t really anything special other than the calendar switches over, and yet we all look at it as a clean start. Even I do. It is a fresh outlook a time when you can be hopeful that this year things will be better. I think this is a good thing, because even if it is just another day, we as people do occasionally need something to look forward to. Something to feel better about.

I have begun my reading for the year with Scandal’s Bride; I am enjoying it so far even though I am not very far into it. And the reason for that is my own personal lack of focus, nothing to do with the book; it is a good book in a series I have enjoyed so far. The characters so far are likeable and have made me chuckle. I am just full of so much MUST GET THIS DONE for everything about the New Year. It will calm down, I will settle down and things will be okay. At least I hope so!

Medically I am about the same as I was last year, nothing new. Nothing good. But it is what it is and I will continue on. That is all one can do is solider on and keep on working. I have been trying to get more freelance writing jobs and have gotten a few bucks here and a few bucks there. It isn’t much at once but it is something. And I will take it!

My Graphic Design site is slow to get going but it is going. I sold my first design on Etsy the other day which made me pretty happy. I am not sad about it though I have a scheduled give away ready on a very popular and busy giveaway site for next month. So I am hoping that will conjure up some business.

So far the New Year gives me a good enough outlook so keep soldiering on. And when in doubt I have a big enough pile of books to read that I can go and cuddle under them for fun!

Quotable Sunday #19

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.”
– Charles Caleb Colton

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
– Anais Nin

“My friends are my estate.”
– Emily Dickinson

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”

“A friend is one who walks in when others walk out”
-Walter Winchell

“A friend is someone who is there for you when he’d rather be anywhere else.”
– Len Wein – Sent by Paulo Louro

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”
– Sent by Donna Roberts

“A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.”
– Sent by Lysha

“Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend.”
– Albert Camus (also attributed to Maimonidies). Sent by clovers

“A hug is worth a thousand words. A friend is worth more.”
– Sent by Jasmine Fitzwilliam

“Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise.”
– sent by Steve


Saturday Sanctuary #8


The Saturday Sanctuary will be a Weekly Writing Post. I will ask something or give a topic. Sometimes it will be short, sometimes it might be longer. The idea is just to write! So others can read. I thought it would be a great idea for a Book Blog to do something about writing. We are bloggers after all so we must have some enjoyment of writing too! So hop on in and Join the Saturday Sanctuary, grab our link and our picture and post your replies here. Make sure you visit others blogs out there and leave comments. Mostly have fun.

What are your big plans for the New Year?

Do you have any big plans for the New Year? I try not to make resolutions because I don’t always keep them but I make plans and thoughts. And this year I have several Irons in the fire I just hope I can keep up with them. One of course is to continue my work here at the Fire & Ice blog and work on my challenges I have signed up for.

Another and brand new one is to do more writing. I will keep up with the freelance work I have been doing on the silly articles and the like there, but I also want to do more creative writing again. So I have set up a writing blog for myself called Marked Ambrosia. My friend Sara helped me come up with the name I shot off some ideas and she hashed it out, I think we make a good team on that. Marked Ambrosia will focus on my needing to write more like I used to, I will give daily updates and than Bi Weekly stories of what I have worked on for those two weeks.

A third project for the New Year was started towards the end of last year but it is a fun one. The Random Acts of Smiles project is my pet project to make mail about more than just bills. In this modern age of computers I don’t think people send letters and postcards much anymore. I know I don’t get very many, but when I get one it makes me smile brightly. When I was a kid I used to have a lot of pen pals and I got a lot of mail, and smiled every time. Now as an adult most of my mail is bills, and I hate that. Getting a card or a letter something like that is always a big surprise that offers me a big smile. I want to share that feeling with everyone else. I want to give smiles and postcards to as many people as I possibly can. Join in the fun if you want, and spread the word. It is a free project I do it out of my own limited funds, but I am happy to.

And my last and final project for the year (as of now anyways) is my Lady Ambrosia’s Creations blog. I am working on Blog Designs, Historical Costumes, Candles and my new obsession arm warmers. Oh how I love arm warmers I think everyone should have some of those. So those are my New Year projects, what are yours? Share with me and put it in the linky!

*If Mr Linky is down please leave a comment. Mr. Linky has been a pain lately*


Friday Firsts #5

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title & author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?
Link back to Well-Read Reviews in your blog entry.
Come back to this blog post, hosted on WellReadReviews.com and add your direct link to Mr. Linky! ** Very important!

“She’d never had a vision like it before.” Scandals Bride by Stephanie Laurens

Well I have been looking foward to reading this book for a while, I have enjoyed the series thus far. The first sentance while a little bit short does draw me in. I want to know what the vision is.

Book Review: In her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

Meet Rose Feller. She’s thirty years old and a high-powered attorney with a secret passion for romance novels. She has an exercise regime she’s going to start next week, and she dreams of a man who will slide off her glasses, gaze into her eyes, and tell her that she’s beautiful. She also dreams of getting her fantastically screwed-up little sister to get her life together.

Meet Rose’s sister, Maggie. Twenty-eight years old, drop-dead gorgeous and only occasionally employed, Maggie sings backup in a band called Whiskered Biscuit. Although her dreams of big-screen stardom haven’t progressed past her left hip’s appearance in a Will Smith video, Maggie dreams of fame and fortune — and of getting her dowdy big sister to stick to a skin-care regime.

These two women with nothing in common but a childhood tragedy, shared DNA, and the same size feet, are about to learn that their family is more different than they ever imagined, and that they’re more alike than they’d ever believe. In Her Shoes — Jennifer Weiner’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, Good in Bed — observes Rose and Maggie, the brain and the beauty, as they make journeys of discovery that take them from the streets of Philadelphia to Ivy League libraries to a “retirement community for active seniors” in Boca Raton. Along the way, they’ll encounter a wild cast of characters — from a stepmother who’s into recreational Botox to a small, disdainful pug with no name. They’ll borrow shoes and clothes and boyfriends, and make peace with their most intimate enemies — each other.

Funny and poignant, richly detailed and wrenchingly real, In Her Shoes will speak to anyone who has endured the bonds of big — or little — sisterhood, or longed for a life different from the one the world has dictated, and dreamed of trying something else on for size.

I totally forgot this was also made into a movie in 2005 so I am going to cheat just a little bit and use this for my 2010 Challenge for read the book see the movie. And I will watch the movie in 2010 so it counts and it is the end of the year close enough.

This is my first Jennifer Weiner book and I had high hopes. My friend Sara said it was a good one…

The book started on a risqué and yet high note. It made me chuckle a little bit and than at the same time as I read on a little sad. Maggie defiantly has some issues to have herself used the way she does. Reading further the relationship between Maggie and Rose touched a little bit close to the relationship I share with my sibling. It is not exact and we are not set fully like the pair but I could defiantly relate and that does make the book a little closer to home for myself and probably others.

While I found the book enjoyable it wasn’t one that I couldn’t put down. It was just okay. Not bad not good, just there. I got a little lost at some of the chapter switches but that could have been my own personal lack of focus. And while I did not think the book was fantastic I will be giving the author another shot and I will defiantly read some more of her books and see where they go.

Happy New Year! Good bye 2009!

A tingling of a plan…

I was reading the fantastic J.Kaye’s book blog this morning (can’t sleep again of course) and I was struck with an idea. Firs of all I have to note J.Kaye is much more organized than me. And secondly she is doing a wonderful novel writing project. 365 Day’s of Novel writing.

Most of you who read the blog here know I am a voracious reader. What you might not know is I am a writer too. And not just the little trying to make ends meat because I am sick articles and advertisements either. Stories, oh nothing novel length yet, (not for lack of ideas honestly I just can’t seem to sort them into novel form yet.). But I used to write Fan Fiction and Short Stories. Mostly now however when I do write I am doing so nightly (every night just about without fail) partner writing Role Play. Me and my writing buddy (who’s name I shall not out) have been doing so for several years now on a variety of topics! I wouldn’t miss doing it with her for the world. I enjoy it immensely. I am thinking I should get my writing chops out again (thank you J.Kaye for the inspiration!) and start doing some short stories.

What do you my readers think? Do you think it is a good idea? Or a Bad idea? There will of course have to be a blog (I am a blog writing addict and I can fully admit it! I also like doing new designs for myself Gluttonous of me I know.). I am thinking of perhaps having myself write one short story a week, or bi-weekly. I will blog about the progress and than post the story in the blog. It may not be a fully final copy more like a rough (depending on if I go weekly or bi-weekly) but it will be a story. My biggest sticking point for the blog right now is what I should name it. I was thinking something to go with my Pen Name of Ambrosia Jefferson (didn’t you know that’s not my real name. *hehe*). I am drawing a blank currently, so I ask you my readers (if you are still reading this LONG post by now) what are your suggestions? Give me some good ones! If I get some good name ideas today I might even toss out a book as a present/giveaway/ reward. Goodness knows I have enough sitting around (see here for that comment on all the little book piles sitting around.)

And just for fun here is the Wikipedia opening statement on Ambrosia:

In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia (Greek: ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods, often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus by doves (Odyssey xii.62), so may have been thought of in the Homeric tradition as a kind of divine exhalation of the Earth.
Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods’ other form of sustenance, nectar. The two terms may not have originally been distinguished;[1] though in Homer’s poems nectar is usually the drink and ambrosia the food of the gods; it was with ambrosia Hera “cleansed all defilement from her lovely flesh” (Iliad xiv.170), and with ambrosia Athena prepared Penelope in her sleep (Odyssey xviii.188ff) so that when she appeared for the final time before her suitors, the effect of the years had been stripped away and they were inflamed at the sight of her. On the other hand, in Alcman, nectar is the food, and in Sappho (fragment 45) and Anaxandrides, ambrosia is the drink.[2] When a character in Aristophanes’ Knights says, “I dreamed the goddess poured ambrosia over your head— out of a ladle”, the homely and realistic ladle brings the ineffable moment to ground with a thump.
Both nectar and ambrosia are fragrant, and may be used as perfume: in the Odyssey (iv.444-46) Menelaus and his men are disguised as seals in untanned seal skins, “and the deadly smell of the seal skins vexed us sore; but the goddess saved us; she brought ambrosia and put it under our nostrils.” Homer speaks of ambrosial raiment, ambrosial locks of hair, even the gods’ ambrosial sandals.
Among later writers, ambrosia has been so often used with generic meanings of “delightful liquid” that such late writers as Athenaeus, Paulus and Dioscurides employ it as a technical terms in contexts of cookery,[3] medicine[4] and botany.[5]Additionally, some modern ethnomycologists, such as Danny Staples, identify ambrosia with the untameable hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria: “it was the food of the gods, their ambrosia, and nectar was the pressed sap of its juices”, Staples asserts.

Awesome New Year Giveaway..

If you like software stuff you really have to check out this give away listedhere at Software Critics .

Below is a full list of what you will win by visiting the site and entering the contest pulled from the site itself! Check it out!

One Snap-A-Bug Pro Account for one (1) year valued at $228US courtesy of SnapABug.com, a Visual Customer Support provider. More about this service will be discussed in the upcoming days or you may visit them at www.snapabug.com for more details.

One of VisualCron business/commercial license plus 1 year maintenance support worth $197US courtesy of VisualCron. You may read Automate Windows tasks with few clicks for more information.

One of two (2) SyncMate Personal licenses worth $39.95US each courtesy of SyncMate. Read SyncMate Helps You Sync Your Mac to Multiple Devices to know more about this tool.

One of five (5) Laptop Alarm software usable for both personal and commercial use courtesy of LAlarm worth $50US each. Read Software to Protect Laptops from Being Stolen for more info.

One Email Marketing Software (Mailer) standard license worth $110US, one (1) Clyton Email client standard license worth $25US and one (1) Televiewer, PC TV license worth $8US all courtesy of Gammadyne.com. To know more about Televiewer, read Watch Live TV Channel on Your PC Free. For the other software, visit www.gammadyne.com.

One of three (3) Windows Automation software Professional licenses worth $199US each courtesy of WinAutomation.com. Read more about it via this post, No More Repetitive Tasks with WinAutomation.

One of two (2) IP Privacy software licenses (one year subscription license) worth $39.95US each courtesy of IP Privacy Pro. Learn more by reading Online Anonymity and Privacy Protection Offered by IP Privacy.


Booking Through Thursday – Year in Review

It’s the last day of the year, and you know what that means … nostalgia and looking back.

What were your favorite books of the year? (Books that were new to you in 2009, if not necessarily published this year.)

It has been a year of many books. I have one more review to write and I am going to be putting it up tonight as I am making the book count for 2009 and 2010, I know a little odd but you will see when I make the review post why. It is hard to believe that it is already going to be 2010. A year has come and gone. I completed 94 books this year. This falls short of my 125 goal, but over all I am pleased. I have reviewed every book I have read and completed 6 other challenges. Since this was my first year of doing challenges I think that is a pretty good accomplishment.

I read a lot of new to me books this year; I did not do any re-reads at all. Some of the books had been in my TBR pile for over a year, but not all of them. Some of my favorites were My Sisters keeper, Shoot the Moon, Good Grief, Devil’s Bride, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation series…and well just a lot more. I really enjoyed most of my books this year. Some were horrible, but most were good.

My TBR pile has been reduced some, I have not taken in as many books as I have finished reading. My only issue is due to finances I have not been able to mail out as many as I want to. But I will be gathering everything that isn’t wish listed on PBS after new years and they will see their way up to the thrift store and cleared out to make room for 2010’s reads. My husband will be happy with that as I currently have several little piles of books around the house. Oppsy!

Happy New Year everyone!

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