Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It took me a bit to get into this book, and there were times that I thought of putting it down for a while and finishing it later. Admittedly, part of the reason I kept on with it was that, as a paperback, it was easy to transport (I carried it in my purse). I'm glad I stuck with it - it was a good book. I am looking forward to reading the next one once I can get it.



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Thinking About The Grocery Game

I have heard many people commenting on the Grocery Game, mostly saying how much they love it.  So I decided to look into it, and discovered quite quickly that it is not for me - at least, not until I have more money to spend.  How's that for a paradox?  Something that is supposed to help you save money on your groceries is something that is (at this time) prohibitively expensive for me.  I'm all about saving money, and the Grocery Game is supposed to help me do so.  However, after a free four-week trial, I'm expected to pay $10+ every 8 weeks for this service.  Which, granted, isn't much.  But from everything I hear and read about the Grocery Game, I can save myself the money and do what I've always done - check the sales ads myself and clip the coupons I get in the mail and in the Sunday paper.  The only thing I cannot do is print out internet coupons (we discovered that the coupon printer we had to download and install and that is required to print out online coupons was also installing spyware on our computer).  Honestly, though, missing out on online coupons does not bother me, since 90% of the ones I would use are the exact same ones that come in the Sunday paper.  I don't purchase enough of any one thing to need multiple coupons for it, so missing out on a duplicate is not the end of the world.

Review: Shakespeare's Counselor

Shakespeare's Counselor by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this book, and the series. I am very disappointed that this is the end of the series, though. Just when it seemed like Lily was really & truly starting to heal emotionally as well as physically - the series is over. Oh well. Not my decision to make, nor my story to write.



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Review: Sizzling Sixteen

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Maybe I'm expecting too much, but these later books in the series are not as good as they used to be. Too much is explained that we should already know (just how often do we need to be told that Lula is a plus-size woman who wears size-small clothes? or that Ranger is mysterious and super-sexy? or that Stephanie can't decide between two men? or that Vinnie is a sleazeball?). It takes up space in the book, yes. But being given everyone's specifics in the first few chapters of each book is getting old - and it's the same reason I stopped reading the Baby-Sitters Club series as a young teen. Too much repetition insults the intelligence of your readership.

There were some moments of humor - which redeemed the book somewhat (hence the fourth star - I came very close to giving it three). Someone who hasn't read the rest of the series would probably find this book very entertaining.



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Review: Plum Lovin'

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a quick read. These "between the numbers" books are a lot of fun (and fluff). I read this one in an afternoon.



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Review: Dead in the Family

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'll admit that I was surprised to find this book at the library. I hadn't been paying enough attention to know that another Sookie Stackhouse novel had been released. Big excitement in my little world.
That said, the book needed something else. It either needed to be longer (to fully develop more of the plot points) or have fewer side stories. Pick something to focus on - be it the conflict now that the Weres have "come out" or Eric's history (or Bill's), or Sookie's relationship with Hunter, or the Faery stuff - any of those could have been a main plotpoint with the others as side notes. Instead, we have all of these things competing for status as the "main" storyline.

Even with these complaints - I loved this book. It took me only about a day to read it - despite having to work. :)



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It's Nice To Hear...

That I am appreciated.  A few days ago my boss volunteered to bring me some books to study so that I can take the exam to be a Licensed Pharmacy Technician.  I definitely told her yes - I would love to have the certification!  I'd also get letters after my name.  She said that I had been a huge help over the weekend when we were short-handed, and I definitely proved (to her at least) that I deserved to become certified.  I'm tempted to take the test without studying for it, since I have always tested well, but having some indicator of what may be on it and what to expect is probably a good idea, so I will get the books, and I may shell out the money for the practice tests.

Coasters

I wanted to make some coasters out of dishcloth cotton, because the purchased coasters that we already own were not quite up to the job in the current heat.  They'd keep the water off of the surface, but only until it pooled up enough to spill over the edge - something that was happening frequently even with my "thirsty" sandstone coasters.  So, I decided to make some coasters that could be used alone or in conjunction with another coaster.  The result is exactly what I wanted.

My set of four coasters

The only downside was that I ran out of yarn when I was working on the border of the last coaster, so that one has a different look.

Note the oddball border?

Wednesday? No WAY!

I could have sworn today was Monday.  Everything was crazy at work.  From someone oversleeping and being two hours late (no, it wasn't me!) to psycho patients blaming us for their doctors' apparent inability to call and refill their prescriptions.  The person being late threw off the day more than anyone would have guessed - we usually don't get that behind when someone calls in and is gone all day.  I can understand why some patients were upset - at one point our wait time was almost three hours.  But others - well, they had no call to be upset with us.  If your doctor is holding up the process, there's nothing your pharmacy can do!  Don't blame me just because I'm the one standing in front of you.  At no point during today did we ever truly catch up on our work.  We just did the best we could and sighed with relief when it was time to close down for the day.

SaraBella Mittens

I participated in NaKniMitMo this month.  NaKniMitMo is (inter)National Knitting Mittens Month.  I have had a wonderful time and learned a new knitting technique - cables!  This was also my first pair of mittens, but I wouldn't exactly call making mittens a technique.  It's just nice to know that I can do it.  The pattern I chose is called "Bella's Mittens" and was inspired by the mittens worn by the character Bella in the movie Twilight.  I named my personal pair "SaraBella Mittens" and I love how they came out.  These have been what I call a "free project" because I did not need to buy anything to make them.  The yarn was a Christmas gift, I already had the needles, and the pattern was free.  I love free projects!

Here is a picture of my mittens in progress: