Dead Reckoning

It's spring in Bon Temps, and for telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse, the season will turn out to be one full of secrets revealed-secrets that will bring major changes in her life...

With her knack for being in trouble's way. Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area.

But Sookie suspects otherwise, and she and Sam work together to uncover the culprit and the twisted motive for the attack. but her attention is divided. Through she can't "read" vampires, Sookie knows her lover, Eric Northman, and his "child" Pam well and she realizes that they are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, she is drawn into the plot which is much more complicated that she knows.

Caught up once again in the politics of the vampire world, Sookie will learn that she is as much of a pawn as any ordinary human and that there is a new queen on the board...

Despite reading all the reviews on Dead reckoning, I was in deed surprised at how much I actually liked it. I had some doubts in the beginning of the book but I am satisfied with the outcome. I find the inner debate in Sookie interesting, she is finally realizing there is more to life than just what's happening to her in the moment and just what is going on in her and Eric's relationship.

I was a little sad, yet a little relieved that Ameila and Bob helped Sookie break the blood bond,I think that was weighing on her alot and frankly I got tired of hearing about its drama. I am glad to see that her and Eric still love each other and of course I'm dying to know what is going to happen next between him and his betrothed, the queen of Oklahoma... so as always... I am left feeling like I can't wait for the next book to come out!

Book Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood Book 5: Lover Unbound By: J.R. Ward

In Caldwell, New York, war rages between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Now the cold heart of cunning predator will be warmed against its will.

Ruthless and brilliant, Vishous son of the Bloodletter possesses a destructive curse and a frightening ability to see the future. As a pretrans growing up in this father's war camp, he was tormented and abused. As a member of the Brotherhood he has no interest in love or emotion, only the battle with the Lessening Society. But when a mortal injury puts him in the care of a human surgeon. Dr. Jane Whitcomb compels him to reveal his inner pain and taste true pleasure for the first time-until a destiny he didn't choose takes him into a future that cannot include her...

I enjoyed reading Lover Unbound, however not as much as the first four books I've read in the series. It had a good plot and lots of great surprises but I am left feeling that Vishous has been cheated out of love and having a real mate. It was interesting to me, to have been given a very unconventional ending but I am somewhat disappointed. I guess for me, I just don't see how Jane and Vishous work out as a real couple now that she is a "ghost". I loved being able to visualize the past of what all Vishous went through to become the warrior he was today and the cool little twist as to what happened to him in the beginning of the book. I'm glad I read it, and will, without a doubt keep reading the series, however I have a feeling that this will probably be my least favorite book that J.R. has written.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

1. Do you think civilians, in general, understand the meaning of Memorial Day?
I think some do, but tend for forget or choose to ignore it. I think they get lost in the sales and shopping excitement. I think some just look at it as "woohoo I'm off of work or out of school!" Never pausing to think, as to why. Personally, I've always known what Memorial Day is about, my dad's a vet, and so was my grandfather on his side... and growing up it was important to remember our fallen hero's always but espeically on memorial day.

2. What are your plans for the Memorial Day Weekend?
We really don't have any plans this year, seeing how we just got back from J-ville last weekend, we usually end up spending Memorial Day with my in-laws. I'm thinking were just gonna have a nice quite weekend.

3. What skill/talent do you wish you had? submitted by The 3 Turners
I wish I were better at growing plants and flowers and things that are green, my mom has a green thumb in fact It think her whole body is green, and her dad was a nursery man and a vintner. But me... no... I kill everything that I come in contact with that is green and leafy... Some days I think Opa would be ashamed of me lol. :/

4. Which came first: the chicken or the egg? submitted by I Married Into The Army
Seriously? Were gonna go there? lol! Neither...

5. What is the best thing about your post (base)? The worst? submitted by Randomly, Robyn
Hmmmm... I really like our Comissarry and BX. They are brand new and HUGE! They were built because hurricane Katrina destroyed the old ones. I also love the marina (though, I rarely use it) you can fish from there, or rent boats, jet ski's, canoes or kayak's. The worst thing... I'd have to say the library, but then again I've never seen a library on base that I've liked. Ours sucks because the books are old and we never get anything new, I also can NEVER find what I'm looking for in there. :(

A Trip to Chamblin Bookmine

I think I've mentioned it before but... just in case... Chamblin Bookmine in Jacksonville, FL. Is my FAVORITE book store! This place is AAAHMAZING! They have every kind of book you can think of, from new to old to print to out of print... yes, just when you think that long lost copy of "Little Miss Strange" is out of reach, chamblin will pull through! This place looks amazing too! In short its an organized mess, but that's the novelty of it!

I try to hit this place up at least once while we come to Jacksonville to visit hubb's family. This time I brought some old books to trade it, it wasn't alot because I cherish the books I have but it still helped with buying some new books. In that haul was a particularly cool comic book novel that hub's spotted in the graphic novel section. Its of the early joker comics from 1940-1965! I was completely blown away by the coolness of this book, I seriously just had to have it because of the cover alone!

Pretty sweet eh?

And here's all my haul from the great trade at Chamblin! Two paranormal romance novels by J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series (the only two I am missing in the series) 2 cozy mysteries; Glazed Murder (a doughnut shop mystery) by Jessica Beck and cookie dough or die (a cookie shop mystery) by Virginia Lowell and last but not least a sci-fi/fantasy novel; The way of shadows by Brent Weeks (its the first book in the trilogy) I'm so excited to read all these! And now I finally have a bit more time to get the reading done! Woohoo!

0.04 ¢ents a bottle!

Sooooo... I've got a little confession to make... I've been coupon'ing! I just cant help myself... its also allowing me to feed my little nail polish addiction too. In fact yesterday I had to go out and buy a shelf for all my polish because they wont fit in my vanity drawer anymore... I've just got too many at this point lol! But seriously... how can you say no when your getting them for .4 cents a piece! Thank you to N.Y.C, Coupons.com and CVS! Here's how I did it...

I went to Coupons.com and saw they had a coupon for $1.00 off N.Y.C nail polish so I printed the allowed amount from my computer and then I printed some more from hubby's computer, and then I printed just 2 more from our desktop computer... totaling my printed coupons to 6, but wait... I'm not done yet... then hauled my coupon stash to CVS where I knew they had N.Y.C's fast dry polish (because my coupon says it had to be a minimum of $1.79) on sale for 75% off! Sooooo...

$1.79
-$1.00 off coupon
-75% off (awesome CVS'ness)
=
0.04 cents!

Pretty awesome eh? The only minor irritation that I had (and caused the store clerk) was that I had to do each transaction separately... and I had to put up with the store clerk asking me... are you one of those crazy coupon ladies? Which I replied with no... I'm not that extreme but I do love a good deal when I see one! I do admit, it did give me a little high and a feeling of accomplishment to bring my total down to less than $0.50 cents for 6 bottles!

The 4 bottles I kept to myself, the other 2 I gave to my momma in law and sistah in law :)

My brand spankin new nail polish shelf... I'm thinking of opening up my own nail salon...
what'cha think? LOL!

Weekend in Florida

We had a great weekend, and a great time hanging out with the family in Florida! We left for our trip last Thursday and my brother & sister in law flew in from Germany on Friday night. Our weekend was spent eating home-made BBQ, Lounging in the Florida sun by the pool and eating more home-made BBQ (courtesy of my father in law) lol! Sunday we got up and headed to the shooting range, we did end up bringing our small arsenal of guns with us and it was great to shoot our new ones! I have found that the .380 Ruger hubby bought me is going to take some practice in holding, because its so small (its meant to be a conceal and carry weapon) but I do love the crimson trace laser on it! I was completely surprised at how much I LOOOOOOOOOOVE shooting the AR-15! Its amazing! I feel very confident in my shots and completely comfortable with it, its also very easy to load the mag and super easy on the trigger. I basically told hubby that I will be wanting a AR-15 for Christmas this year and possibly a few accessories (it IS the barbie doll of guns!) In case you all are wondering... they look like this...

The Ruger .380 with Crimson Trace Laser

The AR-15 with military tactical rails and sights (aka. amazing zombie slayer!)

I think its safe to say if there is ever a zombie epidemic, we will be safe for a while. :) In fact...
hubby made sure to buy more ammo to replace the ammo we took with us, juuuuust in case any of those flesh eating, brain sucking, rotting corpses popped up on I-10 while driving home. LOL! I call him paranoid, he calls himself prepared... LOL! All in all it was a good trip, I was glad to see my in law's (all of them) and glad I had a chance to go to my favorite little book store (Chamblin Bookmine and don't worry... I'll share my finds with you in another post) and a discover a new comic book shop downtown! Hope you all had an amazing weekend too!

Milspouse Friday Fill-In

1. What is one of the things you always do special when your husband returns from a deployment? submitted by Keep Calm and Soldier On

Spend as much time together as possible of course! And maybe go on a little get-a-way to spend some time together.

2. What do you do to help your spouse and/or yourself re-adjust after a deployment or long separation? submitted by Diapers, Dogs and Deployments

Try to get back to the same routine as soon as possible, just try to make everything as normal as possible. Take long walks, talk and just enjoy each other's company.

3. Are you a crazy coupon clipper (I’m becoming one, so share your secrets with me)? submitted by Married My Airman

I am actually slowly becoming a crazy coupon lady LOL! Granted we are a family of 3 so, I'm never gonna be on TLC's extreme couponing show or anything... however.... yesterday as I was taking a walk around my in-law's neighborhood while the kiddo rode her bike, when I spotted someone's coupons on the sidewalk! So of course my internal "crazy coupon lady" had me pick them up and cart them home! I did score a few good ones like $2.00 off L'Oreal hair color and $1.00 Renu contact lens stuff! So yeah I guess you could say I'm starting to see coupons everywhere!

4. What’s your most treasured memory of you and your spouse (not counting your wedding – that’s a given)? submitted by Scrubs, ACUs and One Crazy Ride

The memories from our childhood... in case you haven't heard before... we have known each other since we were able to crawl to each other... so in particular I'd have to say my favorites are of us sitting on his mom and dad's couch watching Saturday Morning cartoons like Thundercats in our undies!

5. If you could live anywhere overseas, what would you pick and why? submitted by Little Moments Like This

Germany, I miss my mom's side of the family alot these days, its been about 6 years since I've been back and its always felt like my home away from home.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Chaaaaaanges (Turn and face the strain)

So tomorrow is my last day of work... I know what some of your are thinking... didn't she just start that job? Yes, its only been about 3 months and yes I am quitting... Hubby and I have decided its the best thing, my job is a bit too stressful which has been causing me problems with my blood pressure... and we all know how stress and high blood pressure can put strain on the baby making process. Seeing how that is the most important thing to us right now in our lives, we wont let anything (even a job) get in the way of that. I'm not too worried about it, we were fine before I had a job and we will be just fine after I quit. Am I sad? or upset? Na... not really... I am gonna miss the little bit of extra money I had made to support my book habit, but well... that's what they make library's for right? LOL! This also makes going back to school a heck of alot easier too...

Thursday we are leaving for Florida, because my brother & sister in law are going to be coming in from Germany, he's in the Air Force too and is currently stationed at Rammstein. We haven't seen them in about 2 years so we are definitely want to hang out for a while. When I come back I plan on enrolling with WGU and starting on my bachelors degree! Holy college Batman! Right?! With that I am saying goodbye to the medical field all together (or until further notice) and pursuing my dream of being a kindergarten teacher! I have always wanted to teach, and well frankly I love the age, I also feel a sense of worth with giving them the foundation to their education. I think Id be good at it and it's something I could be proud of myself for. Sooo here's to lots of changes! Hope you are all still holding on for the wild ride... because its just about to start!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy friends! Hope you all are having a wonderful day, I know I am! And today I give special thanks for the mom's in my life... my mother and my mother in law. I have the honor of having both of them there for me all my life.

Then & Now... The hubby's mom on the left and mine on the right
(ca. 1972)

And after all these years still the best of friends... Christmas 2010
My momma on the left and his on the right.

Book Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood Book 4: Lover Revealed By: J.R. Ward

In the shadow of the nigh in Cadwell, New York, there's a war raging between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. But now an ally of the Brotherhood is about to encounter his own dark desires...

Butch O'Neal is a fighter by nature. A hard-living ex-homicide cop, he's the only human ever to be allowed in the inner circle of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And he wants to go even deeper into the vampire world- to engage in the turf war with the lessers. He's got nothing to lose. His heart belongs to a female vampire, an aristocratic beauty who's way out of his league. If he can't have Marissa, then at least he can fight side by side with the Brothers...

Fate curses him with the very thing he wants. When Butch sacrifices himself to save a civilian vampire from the slayers, he falls prey to the darkest force in the war. Left for dead, he's found by a miracle, and the Brotherhood calls on Marissa to bring him back. But even her love may not be enough to save him...

Wooooah! Lets just say I didn't see that ending coming! What a great book! I've always thought Butch might be "special" and so much more than just a "pet". I love him an Marissa together, and glad to see Marissa grow out of the shy, fragile, little princep she was raised to be, I don't think I've ever been more proud of a character in a book as when she stood up to the council and took on the leahdyre. And let just say that Havers is no longer someone I respect. All in all J.R. keeps me amazed in this series, with each book I read I am completely mesmerized by the world of the black dagger brotherhood! Cant wait to read Vishous's story next!

My favorite quote in this book...(there were so many, it was hard to choose)

"Besides, you don't look a thing like him. I mean... hello? You're this
beefy Irish white boy. He's like... bus exhaust or some shit."

The Baby Game Plan

Hubby and I went to my new fertility doctor appointment in Mobile, AL today and we were COMPLETELY satisfied!!! YAY!!!Granted this was our first meeting but so far so good! I am impressed and after an hour an 20 minute consultation I left feeling hopeful, joyful and more positive than I have felt in months! Why? Because we now have a game plan! No seriously... my "operation baby" to-do list, seriously looks like a Mike Tomlin's playbook for when Pittsburgh is in the playoffs! Buttttt.... to break it down.

I will be taking my first round of Provera (that little pill that makes sure that mother nature will come pound on your front door and give you your monthly "gift") then I call the doc and get the approval to start my first cycle of 50mg of clomid... now I know what your thinking... the big "T" word... but, that only happens to 10% of all women on clomid... so lets just stay positive here people LOL! Regardless I will be happy to be pregnant with something... unless its an alien... LOL!After I finish the round of clomid I will have LOTS of blood tests to make sure that little magic pill is doing its job and stimulating my ovaries. Then on cycle days 7-11 I will be having my HSG done to make sure my parts are all functioning fine. After that it OPKT (Ovulation Predictor Kit Time)!!! If thats all good then you can guess what will be coming next... a brief blogging hiatus due to other stimulating activities LOL! Then around mid cycle I will be going back to Dr. Geinus for a mid cycle ultrasound and hoping to find some potential follicles!

Phew! Sounds like a lot right?! But, like I said... I really LOVE this guy! I am greatful that he has given me hope! And I cant wait to get the plan in motion!

Flea Market Find!

This weekend we took a little adventure to Mobile Alabama. We wanted to check out "The largest flea market on the Gulf Coast"... it was pretty big, not huge, but still took up a good 2 hours of our day. Annnnnnnd the best part?! ... and Katie your gonna LOVE this (I thought of you while I browsed through these...) I found a kinda rare, antique Castleton tea cup & saucer set circa 1942 for $3.00. I did some research later and found out that its actually worth around $80.00... kinda makes me wish I had the whole set! I seriously am in LOOOOOOVE with my little dainty addition! Wanna see her?



Such a beauty isn't she? I looove the cream color with the dove colored rose, and the amazing splash of baby blue with the gold edges! I have named her "Claire"... yes, that's right I'm naming my cup! Did you know the act of tea drinking is 5,000 years old! Yup, it dates all the way back to Emperor Shen Nong of China! Europeans didn't catch on till much later in the 1600's and even then the practice of putting handles on tea cups wasn't founded until the 1700's by a British porcelain maker that worked for the British Royals... I guess they were growing tired of burning their little royal fingers on the cups lol! Do any of you have any antique or vintage tea cups?