I do have my script coming along so if nothing else I can work on that, afterall it is only a couple weeks until production and I don’t have my lines memorized.  Of course we’ve only had the script a couple weeks but I have been so busy with my 2 new jobs I haven’t had time to run lines.

I think this break will do me well before the next 2 crazy weeks come.  Rehearsal, rehearsal, wedding, bridal shower which I am hosting, lia sophia show, rehearsal, lia sophia show, rehearsal, rehearsal, wedding, bridal shower.

I think I can, I think I can.

My granddaughter is 14 months old and she is a happy little girl.  She rarely cries but is always smiling.  She adores my dog Pixie and the dog is so tolerant of the hugs and squeezes she gets from the baby.  Though now she has learned that sometimes she gets the babies leftovers from the floor or snacks from her hand so its okay then to endure the loving.

M was here for a couple days with the baby and it sure would have been nice to have her here longer because just as she was leaving the baby was reaching up to her for uppies and to do things with her.  I know that they will have to try to get together once the family is settled into their new home in a couple weeks.

My son is loving the little one too.  She gives him hugs, kisses and asks to go up to him all the time too.  Of course he spoils her by letting her on his computer and pressing keys, where her parents don’t let her do that.

I might have a babysitting job interview today if the timing works out.  I just got the message late last night so we’ll see if we get together this morning.  There are 2 little girls and the Mom is looking for time to get otu of the house to do a few errands and to have time with her hubby for dates.  She doesn’t want a teenager to babysit and since it is part-time it might work out.  Plus I don’t have to be on my feet all day long like my last job which was hard on my plantar fasciitis.

Well, the baby is up and I will give her Daddy a break since they’ve been up for at least an hour I think.  I don’t even mind getting up early to spend this quality time with the babe.  Of course it isn’t difficult because we have so much fun together.

1. Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Any or all. Once in a series I prefer to stay that way (ie, purchasing the 2nd, 3rd etc books in paperback if I bought the previous ones in paperback).

2. Amazon or brick and mortar? Both! Though I prefer Indigo/Chapters over Amazon for books.

3. Barnes & Noble or Borders? Neither, cause it’s Canada!

4. Bookmark or dogear? I always dog ear. I consider my books “loved” if I dog ear them. I think there are only a couple books I wouldn’t dog ear – the Bible and my Complete Works of Shakespeare! Also, mom’s book of poetry. Some things you like to keep pristine

5. Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I group by author, in series order, if any, then by genre. I don’t alphabetize. Currently I still have 2 boxes of books and 2 leaning towers of books waiting to find proper shelving.

6. Keep, throw away, or sell? I don’t think I would ever throw a book away. I have trouble even thinking about selling one – even the ones I barely read. It’s too traumatic. Partially the problem is I’m a pack rat who can’t bear to get rid of anything I might, in this case, read or need in the future.

7. Keep dustjacket or toss it? Usually I end up removing them, hoping to save them and keep them nice. They usually get ripped or flattened by a pile of books eventually.

8. Read with dustjacket or remove it? Remove, set aside. Lose. Forget about. Find it later looking crappy. Sometimes dust jackets make good bookmarks though, if it’s a nice biggie.

9. Short story or novel? Novel, or anything really. Cereal boxes work too.

10. Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Seriously, anything I can get my grubby little paws on, I’ll read.

11. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter, but only because I have not read Lemony Snicket. I suspect the writing for LS is very good.

12. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I stop when I can’t open my eyes anymore. Chapters never bother me… in fact, I have this ability to just skim over the fact that I’m on a new chapter. Usually if my plan is “one more chapter” I’ll find that I’ve gone through three or four before realizing it!

13. “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Depends on my mood… I will read anything!

14. Buy or Borrow? Buy. If someone lends me a book, I probably have to buy a copy anyway.

15. New or used? I prefer used, but some of my favourite stuff hasn’t been released yet. Or it’s so beloved that no one would ever give it away (I can never find Anne McCaffrey in either of the used bookstores nearby).

16. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? I don’t usually take book reviews seriously – at least not professional ones. If I am reading someone’s work (aka a blog, or webcomic, etc) and they suggest a book, I will look it up, maybe check the bookstore and read a page or two before buying. I’ll always read if someone recommends it for me specifically. I find a ton of books by browsing and saying ‘that author has a cool name, lets try it!’

17. Tidy ending or cliffhanger? I’m not a big fan of cliffhangers. They only work when you know there is going to be a sequel, and preferably when the sequel is already released so you can go back to the store and get it right away.

18. Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Anytime reading! Morning, taking the dog out, lunch, in the bathroom, making dinner, in between loading times on games… late late late at night.

19. Stand-alone or series? I like both. I’m always happy when I finish a book that I love and know that there’s 1+ more waiting for me to delve into.

20. Favorite series? A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. Also, Kushiel’s Saga by Jacqueline Decarie. Finally, the book series that introduced me to science fiction and fantasy: DragonRiders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. And finally again: the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. The BEST birthday present a 10 year old girl could get.

21. Favorite children’s book? Red is Best. Many many many others.

22. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? I, Cleopatra by William Gibson. My mother knows about that one though.

23. Favorite books read last year? I honestly can’t pick one. Anything from my favourite series – I have read at least 1 book by each of them this year.

24. Favorite books of all time? Way too many to count. A Horse and His Boy, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, A Game of Thrones, Dragonflight. Those are probably my favourites.

25. Least favorite book you finished last year? My least favourite book I probably loved anyway, so nothing that I didn’t like.

26. What are you reading right now? I listed this previously!

27. What are you reading next? I’ve got to finish the 4 I’m currently on. I’ll probably continue with the Song of Ice and Fire series though, in hopes that GRRM will finish writing the next book sometime this year. (The series goes: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and the unfinished – A Dance with Dragons… and there are supposed to be at least two more afterward!)

Finally, on a non-meme note. I want to talk about my love for A Song of Ice and Fire.

First of all, it’s beautiful, but even so I want to ignore all the good things about it and focus on one:
It surprises you – and does not allow you to believe that the good guy always wins, or that your favourite noble heroic man will survive the plots against his life. The faithful, beautiful, kind and loving mother – will be forced to become the antithesis. And so many, many more things. Basically, it doesn’t let you get comfortable in worn and safe stereotypes. The bad guy might turn good. The good guy might not be that great. Someone you were disgusted with for 2/4 books you will turn around and find out that you sympathize with – against your own will! GRRM humanizes his characters and makes them so real and true. And of course, the story takes place in a darker more medieval time, and it is much more ruthless than this day and age.

I think the thing that brought out this contrast was reading some nice and fluffy young adult literature that I recognize I am too old for (Twilight and it’s 1st sequel, New Moon; by Stephanie Meyer). The characters are rather believable in some parts. The supernatural part is believable. But for the most part it is a very fluffy story where everything always ends up alright in the end, and the characters are just a little too pure, too faithful and definitely too naive to exist in any real world.

This isn’t knocking the Twilight series at all – it’s a great, fun and easy read. But I hope that the youth today who enjoy Twilight will also be able to enjoy meaty fiction like ASoIaF in the future (and maybe by then the series will be done and I can happily read through it once a year!).

I love planning and dreaming up theories and making big ideas come to life.

And then as soon as the work, the gritty stuff, has to be done… I get bored.  Work related – this isn’t so bad.  I am much better at keeping to the plan and working hard when someone else is my motivator.  When it comes to self improvement however, that’s where I get lazy.

One of my semi-new projects is to teach myself Japanese.  I’ve tried this in the past… I pick up a book, I do the first lesson, practice some words or vocabulary – and then I get bored, or I get distracted with real work, or other things for a bit, and never get back to it.

This time though, I’m going all the way.  I’m making flash cards, I’m writing the characters 10 times each to get the right look.  I’m gleeful when I learn how to spell (in Japanese of course) “tsunami” or “neko” (cat).  And I’ll say “hopefully” I’ll stick with this one.

Another self-improvement project is that I’m trying to do some exercise.  I work at home, I play at home, so it’s becoming important to me to do something with my body.  I hate running, and I’m not interested in sports.  And I’m afraid of gyms (they are very intimidating, and my personality does not like to be put in compromising situations like that).  So I’m stuck to exercising at home – doing those TV exercises, or from a book or DVD.  Who knows if any will work.

I’ve got to work on my diet as well – not what foods I can’t eat, but to just try to eat healthy and keep the junk to a minimum.

Of course, vacation is 3 days away, so no matter what I do now, it’ll be ruined by a week’s worth of being a sot!

I am one who usually sees the wonders of God’s creation around me and these books make me feel the wonder in my own life.  I love dreaming and believing in the good that can come out of our imagination, it is the “Ah!” moments that creates a thrill in my life.  I guess you call it synchronicity, I just see God working wonders that are amazing and joy giving because I love when writing has deeper meanings than ever imagined.  That is why some of my poetry has caused me to be so happy because I know I could not have planned it better to see the symbolism when I reread something I wrote.

I still dream of writing and publishing more but I haven’t figured out how to direct myself into one channel to follow.  I think I need to be ready to write for love of writing and filling a need to share, but who knows, maybe it just isn’t the time yet.

Today was my second day in a row that I had off from work, so you’d think that since I played around yesterday I would have worked hard today getting the things done that needed to be done because it’s back to work tomorrow. (Yuck, on Saturday)

Of course, I could blame our being online together trying to get this blog going so that we could actually do something with it because I knew if we didn’t start it up right away we would have put it off too long and too much would get in the way.  Now it is one of my tabs on my Fire Fox so I will remember to come here and chat with you.

Anyway, back to procrastination.  I had a couple things to do today and I didn’t even jump into the pool.  Well, I over clorinated it so I couldn’t anyway.  Silly me.  I wanted to clean up two floors of the house, do the dishes that needed handwashing and make something or have a plan for the potluck on Sunday.  Not a whole lot to do but here it is 9:43p.m. and I got one floor done.  I had to add washing my uniform a little while ago because I just realized I had worn both of them but had not done the wash since I worked so I needed them done.  But “the boy” also needed his done too, so it was okay to leave it until late tonight, since he just got home from work.  I’ve flitted around the mainfloor putting the odd thing away but it gets frustrating when some things don’t have a place.  You know like my cell phone box.  I had to return my cell phone and pulled out the box for the return and now I have it and more because of the bluetooth I bought and I feel like I have to keep that for a certain amount of time.  But after being married for 26 years there are an awful lot of boxes around.  Yeah, we do throw some out but never a computer box, or TV box or any electronics box.  Someday I’m going to fill up the truck with all the cardboard and find I have more space in my house than I ever imagined.  Goodness, we had three children living with us in this house and now that two are gone we have less room than ever.  So my procrastination comes from frustration, put everything in its place and a place for everything.  There is not such thing.

Now here I am writing to avoid the last bit of work.  The dishes will take 10 minutes, 15 if I dry and put them away right away.  The tidying up of the living room, dining room and kitchen will take 30 minutes and if I leave the vacuuming until tomorrow I won’t be all sweaty before going to bed.  I can vacuum before I go to work at 10 in the morning.  See, I just have to put something off once more.

Oh, I’m going to make Caesar salad for the potluck and maybe a fruit salad since I am trying to eat as much raw food as I can.

Ta for now, I’ll write again tomorrow and let you know if I got my work done.

This blog will be shared with my eldest and I. I consider her one of my best friends because we can talk openly and honestly.
I am looking forward to sharing our time together. We talk about everything and anything, we don’t always agree but we listen to each other and respect the other and that creates our great friendship and good communication skills.

Hello, I am Mielikki.  I will be joined by my co-writer, who also happens to be my mother, soon.

This blog will be a method of communication between mother and daughter.  As we live many hours apart, we end up having some great conversations when do call each other.  Our goal is to share some of our thoughts and conversations with the world.  And my hope is that someone will find them interesting!

M