Castle in the Clouds

Oh, boy.  I just finished reading this here book and, boy, was it painful!  So much so that there were several times I almost marked the book DNF; Did Not Finish, for those of you unfamiliar with the terminology.  Pure will power kept me going.  That and a refusal to let a book I was really struggling to understand defeat me. Pride.  It cometh before the fall, yes? Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler was recommended to me by an economics professor here at the university where I work.  It was one of many titles, actually, that he provided when I sent him a note in the middle of 2016 presidential election asking for books a newbie like myself would be able to grasp.  I explained to him that despite two degrees I had somehow managed to avoid taking a single economics course and had decided it was well past time for me to get a basic understanding of some general principles.  He sent back this list: ...

My intentions for this blog are fluid.  One day, it's a place to talk about books and writing.  The next, I've decided I don't have enough to say on those two topics alone and this space would better serve as a kind of family or personal journal.  A mommy blog, if you will.  I try not to post anything too intimate or controversial. Yet, here I am, going where I'm not even sure I want to go.   Politics and religion.  Feminism.  Liberal ideology and conservatism.  These are topics I normally avoid writing about without a fictional filter.  These are topics I know bring out the trolls in groves, and who has the time or energy for angry, argumentative people?  Not me.  In fact, before writing this post I debated for several days on whether or not I would close down comments.  Because while I feel compelled to write down the thoughts that are overwhelming me these days, I really do not feel the need to justify how I feel or ...

Going out to the movies is expensive.  While I'm not at all opposed to going by myself, I prefer to take the husband, our boys, my sister, or a friend with me.  While my sister or a friend will pay for themselves, my boys and the hubby tend to be on the same bill I am.  Most of the time - 9 times out of 10 - it's me and the boys, which means our tickets and concessions run anywhere from $40-50 per visit.  Because of this, we usually pick and choose which movies we'll wait to watch on Netflix and which ones will help support our local Emagine Cinema. There are a lot of movies I'm content to wait for, that I feel lose little in terms of viewing quality by being watched on our flat screen at home.  Then there are these movies that I'm perfectly willing to temporarily pauper myself to watch at the theater. Not shared because I'm still waiting on an official trailer...

I started this blog with the intention of sharing my writing process and progress.  Over time, this site has morphed into more of a mommy blog and the writing became less and less of a focus.  That doesn't mean I stopped writing.  What it might be indicative of, though, is that I don't write as often as I should or, more honestly, could. Take my current work in progress (WIP), for example.  I have been working very unsteadily on it, choosing to watch television or read books in my down time instead of adding another paragraph or two whenever possible. Yet, the urge to write never goes completely away.  It might be weeks or even months that go by without me touching the WIP, but eventually I will pull the rough draft out, reread the last bit I had written, and then add some new material.  It's not a very effective or efficient writing method.  It's actually quite the opposite.  However, it is a new year and I've decided this is my year to m...

Goodness...where to start? I guess I should mention that these are my top five picks from the books I read in 2016 and they are presented in no particular order.  To see a more comprehensive look at all the books I read this last year, take a peek at  Krista's Year in Books (2016) . Technically, this should count as three books but, as the trilogy was packaged in one massive tome, I'm going to count it the same way Goodreads did: as one gigantic book. This was the first book I read in 2016.  Apparently, I like to tackle the thickest of books right at the beginning of my challenges because this year I selected Stephen King's 11/23/63, which is 849 pages long. The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop came in at a whopping 1204 pages! And I loved every single word of it.  I thought Jaenelle Angelline's growth throughout the series was precocious without being tiresome.  In this trilogy, Jaenelle appears first as a young girl that catches the heart of thr...

It's a new year, which means it's time to do a couple of  One Second Everyday compilations.  First up, my 2016 in Review.  As you will see, I did not remember to snag a one-second video once a day. Next, the app had a little holiday "gift".  It offered to take my most popular Instagram photos and turn them into a quick little slideshow video. Next year...I will do better!

First, there's the #RetroRereads challenge that I feel is rather timely.  It took me some time but a list eventually emerged.  As I said on the Goodread's challenge board , most of these titles were selected in order for me to continue on in a series.  Only items #1, #7, and #10 were added for the simple pleasure of rereading an old favorite. 1. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 2. A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin (GRRM hereafter) 3. A Clash of Kings by GRRM 4. A Storm of Swords by GRRM 5. A Feast of Crows by GRRM 6. A Dance of Dragons by GRRM 7. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 8. Scar Night by Alan Campbell  9. Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold 10. 1984 by George Orwell I also intend to continue reading books that I already own.  Thus, so continues the #ReadYourOwnDamnBooks challenge.  I'm hoping to move at least twenty books off the physical TBR in 2017 and twenty off the virtual (Kindle) bookshelves.   That...