Audio book review- The Thirteenth Tale

One of a few audio books my mother lent me, The Thirteenth Tale, doesn't have a jacket I'd usually pick up but "don't judge a book by it's cover" and all that. This book followed the Twilight set in my player. It's pretty different.

The summary from Wikipedia

Vida Winter, the most famous novelist in England and quite possibly the world, has never been forthcoming when it comes to her past. Her entire life is a secret, and for fifty years reporters and biographers have attempted to discover the truth. With her health quickly fading, Ms. Winter enlists a bookish amateur biographer named Margaret Lea to bear witness to the tragic story of the Angelfield family, their eccentric beginnings as well as their demise. Margaret, who has family secrets of her own, must unravel the mysteries of the past in order to reconcile not only Miss Winter with her ghosts, but also Margaret with her own.

That's a very good summary actually. The author did a pretty good job at leaving the actual years pretty vague. That's something that I can sometimes get frustrated about because I'd like to picture the period correctly but in this case I like it- I know the amount of years but I can't exactly place what someone would be wearing so this can be a pretty timeless story. Possibly there are hints but I don't know enough about England maybe and their aristocratic history. The book does seem to drag out a bit and Margaret's "secret", in my opinion, she whines about way too much. Something that isn't exactly something I'd consider a huge secret but more of something just not discussed among her family. (I really want to be more specific but I don't want to give anything away.) Looking back, it secures the novel in a very depressing state. Ms. Winter's story is very intriguing and has lots of really neat twists. I have to admit at first I was kind of disappointed in Ms.Winters biggest twist (which, while each twist is more and more shocking, really doesn't come until way way late into the book of course, as the true climax) because it kind of felt like a cop out that came slightly out of no where but after having moved on to another book and reflecting on it now it was pretty genius actually and even somewhat possible. The ending is wrapped up tidily and there is a pretty happy ending to spite the whole first 90% of the book being so dark.

Haha- my review seems so wishy washy - It sounds like I was disappointed but actually I really would recommend this book, I just want you to be prepared for some pretty sad stuff. If you do audio the readers are pretty great. The whole thing did keep me really entertained. After the first 3 disks I got tired of Margaret's moaning about her secret but I was sucked into the story pretty well so I got over it and I'm really glad I did. I'd give this a 4/5 stars.

Right now I'm reading The Heretic's Daughter, Firestarter, still working slowly on The Black House and listening to Under the Dome. 

Dent or Scratch in your car?

 

Fix it in 3 easy steps!!

1. Clean area
2. Find the appropriate size sticker (may take more than 1) with the right amount of wit, humor, supports a business or that makes a statement you'd like to share about yourself.
3. Apply over area.



VOILA!! Instant Beautification.



(Note, not all stickers above are covering something. I enjoy keeping other commuters amused as we crawl along in traffic and appreciate when I see the same.)

 Also add flair by wiring toys to your plate frame. (see photo 2)

Anniversaries!

So Feb 9th was my parents wedding anniversary. I was racking my brain for something to get them. They've been doing lots of fun new activities together like taking an artisan bread making class and taking day trips to sites in neighboring states. A few years ago I bought my mom a digital camera and she uses it but I think she just doesn't know when to exactly. I finally came up with the idea of an activities journal. She can take photos of their adventures and slip them into 4x6 sleeves and I would include some journaling sheets for them to each write down their memories and reactions.

The next thing that popped into my head was Mollie! Mollie of Wild Olive makes the most wonderful little characters that I've talked about quite a bit before. Occasionally I'll think of something and e-mail her in case she needs inspiration. (Remember THIS  from here?)  I thought about travel and trips and specifically my favorite- Road Trips. She always responds and lets me know what shes working on or if she's done something similar.

This time she was working on a spring set and a solar system set but she liked the road trip idea. Less then a week later she's whipped up a great bunch and was looking for names for them on Facebook! Today all 3 sets premiered at the shop! Here is some of her images for a preview! She's got all kinds of printables and the embroidery patterns too!







(I think this is older but I picked up the Valentines set too!)


Don't forget to get yours at the shop , show some love on her blog or on the fan page!

And per se and

Joe is AWESOME- Electric Tattoo in Pasadena, MD

Rings

OK So I got married January 20, 2007. I haven't shared too much about it here but another blogger was sharing a blog about birthstones so it got me wanting to share some too.


Here's my ring now.   

This is not my wedding ring. Well it is the ring that signifies I'm married but it is not the ring I got married with which does make me a little sad.




My original ring looked like this but in gold and with 9 stones across.


Russ knew I loved garnets since it's our birthstone and we also got married in January. He knew I really wanted them incorporated into our wedding ring. The band (bottom) was reworked to have every other stone (4 total) as a garnet. It was beautiful!

When he proposed the ring was a tiny bit tight so we took both and got them re-sized together at the place he bought them. (Gordon's Jewelers but I'm only going to say that once.)

During our engagement we went letterboxing/ for a walk through a park. When I got back to the car I realized a diamond had fallen out of the side. We immediately drove to the store and they took it for repair and replaced the stone. 

About 6 months later we got married. I enjoyed my ring for about 2 weeks but then sadly found a garnet had fallen out! Again we took it to get replaced and asked how this could be permanently fixed since it was the 2nd incident. They assured it shouldn't happen again. It took about 3 weeks and I finally got my ring again. 

A week later, a diamond fell out. 


After many angry calls and visits to the store the again assured us the top jeweler would repair the ring for good. 3 more weeks and I got my ring back on Friday night. I had a horrible dream that night that again this was going to be trouble. Saturday morning I woke up and looked at my ring and was happy to see it was all there. I got up and went right to the couch, turned on the TV, looked down and a garnet was missing.....

At this pointed I was married about 4 months and got to wear my ring a total of 3 weeks. My MIL got involved and she knows who to threaten. Basically they admitted the holes in the metal are meant for the specific diamonds they are setting it it, the ring should not ever be "reset" with different stones than the original. Something they failed to mention when hubby purchased the ring. Secondly, this type of ring should also not be re-sized because there is a possibility of changing the spacing/setting in the channel. Again, something they failed to mention at the sale and before it was re-sized by them. 

So wrapping up the long story, they upgraded/changed ring styles for me (ahaha when they asked 4 or 6 prong for the main stone I said 6!!! It better not fall out again.) Again, I'm sad it's not technically the wedding ring or the ring my husband chose for me but it's a very nice ring and I do get compliments on it for being original and having our birthstones in it.