Sunday, November 24

Happy Teacher's Day (in Turkey)!

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything on here, but I've been productive, I promise. Apart from a crazy amount of tests, watching every episode of Mythbusters, and trying to finish the video games I'm halfway through, I've finished reading, writing, and taping book reviews.

I've been worrying about being able to complete the 2013 reading challenge of 50 books because I've been hovering around 30 books for a month or so. As I was cleaning up my Goodreads shelves, adding ratings and so, I noticed that I hadn't added the Dengeki Daisy mangas I've been reading all year. When I added those in, I found myself only a few books away! Now, I only have to read two more books before New Years and I'm all done! Hopefully, I can make more than just 50 this year.

There is a wonderfully growing pile of books on my headboard that I need to write the written reviews for. Thanksgiving on Thursday needs to be returned to the library as soon as possible, so that one is on the top of the list. I've got Zenn Scarlett mostly done. It only needs a little bit of revision and it'll be ready for publication. After that, Steve Jobs is up, followed by any library books I finish in the next few days.

Keeping with the Thanksgiving theme for this month, I have another festive book that I would like to have completed by Wednesday morning so I can make a Thanksgiving day video this week instead of Friday. But that means that I have to get through it and take notes in the next three days. I'm sure I can do it, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time.

Thankfully, my mom has finally agreed to change the look of our house. Yesterday, we went couch shopping and it was more difficult than we thought it would be. It turns out that we have different tastes entirely. I think we'll be lucky to find something that we both agree on. As exciting as it is, it means that I might be spending this week painting, reupholstering, and building new furniture. This means I'm going to have to plan reading time, which is not something I'm used to.

But I have to finish The Catered Thanksgiving by Isis Crawford by Wednesday. Keep track of my progress on Goodreads!

Friday, November 15

Happy National Spicy Hermit Cookie Day! (I have no idea what that is, but it kinda sounds gross...)

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. It was hard to find time to post the last two weeks. I had three different tests at school, plus helping Kevin move into a new house, and the strange problems with my appliances. Hopefully, most of that will be over and done with now.

Today, I finally finished The Vampire Stalker review at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0FjeamGjds. I know that I was supposed to do a review of Zenn Scarlett or Steve Jobs, but I've had reader's block for some reason. I just haven't had the motivation. Strangely, once I actually force myself to read, I get drawn in very quickly and it's hard to stop. I just have to make myself sit down and do it.

Appliance problems: The trash compactor was successfully installed, however, it's the wrong color. So we had to order it again and it should arrive later this month. The dishwasher should be here by the beginning of December and all the appliances should match the black oven we have. I'm hoping that all of this can be done by Christmas. That'll be my present to myself :)

My reader's block has become a real problem. I got two books from the library that I was supposed to finish by Thanksgiving or thereabouts. But they're second to Zenn Scarlett and Steve Jobs. So I have to buckle down and spend maybe the whole day just reading those two books. I'm halfway done with both of them and that gives me hope.

The long list of books I'm "currently-reading" on Goodreads is way too long. Most of those books I haven't touched in months, if not years. I'd really like to get most of those off the list so other people don't get confused about it when I don't update those books for a while. Wish me luck on finishing everything!

Please follow me on Goodreads and Youtube for further updates!

Friday/Saturday, November 1 & 2

I hope you all enjoyed your Halloweens. We just finished up an awesome, if somewhat uneventful party of four.

I edited and uploaded my videos for Hair Raising and The Great Little Madison, which makes two videos in three days. Not something I'll ever have to do again hopefully. The links are down below. But now I only have to finish the written reviews of those books and I'm done with them. To be honest, I'm toying with the idea of not doing the written reviews until after New Years. It can be very time consuming and I'm trying desperately hard to finish reading fifty books before December 31st. On top of this, I have school work and class four days a week, plus another day every month for labs outside of class.

The dishwasher that was supposed to be installed on Wednesday arrived damaged and the man wasn't enterely comfortable saying it would work properly. It was very hard trying to prepare for Halloween without a dishwasher. We had to clean everything by hand. I did dishes three separate times today before the party even started. So we have to wait another couple of weeks to get that installed, too. Plus, we're still waiting on our trash compactor. Hopefully the second one doesn't have any problems and we can instal it and get it working ASAP.

I have yet to crack open Zenn Scarlet, but I'm hoping I can have it read by the 8th. I'm not sure how much longer Steve Jobs will take, but I'm hoping not long after that. If I can get through at least one or two books a week, when the holidays come and I have nothing to do but sit at home and read and watch Charlie Brown everything, I'm hoping I can get through enough to pull out that total of fifty by the end of the year. Maybe I should just start reading children's books or books I can read in less than half an hour...

Please keep track of me on goodreads and my videos. Now my cat is whining for attention and she won't let me be until she crawls her way under the sheets and falls asleep with me.


The Great Little Madison Book Review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8QRqhPaZA

Hair Raising Book Review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX4Op_AP9M8

Tuesday, October 29

Thankfully, I've been able to catch up on enough of my stuff to record a video for this week and I just need to edit it. I apologize for the huge gaps in video and blog making. I know I say this a lot, but hopefully after next week, I'll be back up to snuff.

Tomorrow, my new dishwasher will arrive and it should be installed just in time for the Halloween dishes rush, provided it's not damaged. The trash compactor I ordered arrived damaged and that's why I have to wait another week for that one. I'm very excited to not have to wash dishes by hand anymore. I admit that I'm a faily lazy person, but I barely found time to do the dishes before and now it takes me three times longer. 

I had planned on being finished with the two books I've been reading by now and started on Dracula, but I'm too far behind schedule for that. I don't think I'm going to get to Dracula until November, which kind of ruins the whole point of Dracula. I might keep that one until next year and keep in on my list of Halloween books.

There's only nine more weeks left until the end of the year and it's starting to creep up on me a little. I pledged fifty books this year on goodreads and I've only managed to get to thirty. When I chose fifty at the beginning of the year, I thought that I wasn't oiling to come even close and I was going to have to lower the bar by twenty or thirty so I'm pretty proud of where I've gotten, but I'm still a little hopeful that I can get there. If I focus more on reading, I think I might be able to read two books a week, especially during school breaks and Christmas. But I'll still only do one video review a week.

Check in with goodreads and hubpages to keep track of my progress if I don't post anything in a timely manner. Thanks for keeping up with me!

Friday, September 27

I was finally able to finish a video this week. I still sound unlike myself and nasally and congested, but it worked out. I sort of feel like I didn't make much sense in the video, but I'm still pretty drugged from the cold medicine I took last night and I was very tired. Still am. Also, I cleaned up my room and some parts of the kitchen right after I finished taping and I feel a little bit better now that my house doesn't look like a dust devil flew threw it in a rampage.

Here's the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jauycRd3Gto. Please follow the link on it to the hubpages written review because there's a bit more information on there than in the video.

Tuesday, September 24

After a long week of being sick and only doing homework, I am back on the bandwagon. I've started reading again and I'll post my progress on goodreads at the end of every day. I apologize that things are going so slow right now, but I'm still trying to figure out my time schedule for all the stuff I have to do during the day. 

I won't post any videos until after my voice stops sounding way too masculine and nasally to understand, but I will try to do that as soon as possible. Because I can't do anything on youtube for a while, I'll compensate by adding to and updating hubpages.

From now on, I will have something new on hubpages or youtube every week. Hopefully, I'll be able to work it out so I can do something on both sites, but I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to read and write each week. 

As I've said before, I'm taking classes and involved in the writing process of a few books and those take priority over reading and writing my book reviews. I'll keep everything updated as much as I can, including this blog.

Sorry for lagging way behind! But I've caught up on my school stuff mostly and almost all of the personal stuff I had going on.

Monday, August 26

Happy National Cherry Popsicle Day!

My new laptop finally arrived today!! I still have to move all my files over from both my old laptops and that might take forever. Depends when Kevin can get the cord for my poor dead-won't-charge-anymore-and-the-batteries-ruined laptop. So, all tonight, I'm going to be playing with it and probably ignoring my homework. But I don't care because I love my new computer that I have yet to name.

I was really hoping that I could have a salad for dinner tonight, but I still haven't gone to the store yet and salad greens don't exist in my fridge right now. So, I'm left with fries and maybe some frozen blueberries. I really need to go to the store. Maybe Kevin will agree to go to Costco with me tomorrow night after work.

Netflix rocks. It's official as of today. All I've done all day was watch New Girl and Law and Order. Minus the two hours of class time. Kristin and I literally just sat on our asses all day long and stared at a flat screen that shows pictures.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get through all the stuff I'm supposed to do this week, but I don't have that much confidence in myself. So, it's shower time for me and more messing around with new laptop of awesome. I really want a name for it so please please help me come up with something!!

Saturday, August 24

Happy National Peach Pie Day!

I just realized that my regular intro of national whatever day could be offensive to people in other countries...but it's too fun to stop.

I just finished taping my newest video which had no content whatsoever. I didn't have time to prepare something like a review or anything beforehand and I felt like I needed to stay to my little schedule. And I haven't gotten any books this month so there wasn't a book haul that I could have done. I am currently in the process of uploading it to youtube, which can take forever. I'll add the link when I've finished with it.

In regards to me not being very productive this week, I got kicked in the face with school. And somehow it surprises me every time. Every year, I don't plan on having to do a crap ton of work and then it happens and I get sucked under by a nasty creature that slowly tears my brain to bits. It sucks. However, I think I have found a way to combat it by scheduling my homework a little better. I should be able to do small little bits of homework every day instead of doing it all at once.

Next week should be different and I should have an actual video with words and information not just me cuddling with my cat.

Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZZglukoEbk

Saturday, August 17

Happy National Vanilla Custard Day!

I finally finished the written version of my June/July Book Haul and published it a few days ago. I'm glad I was able to get it out of the way and get it done before the weekend. The only thing left is the video version which I'm in the middle of finishing right now. I recorded it, but I've just gotten around to editing it today. That's another thing I hope to finish before school starts. It would be nice to start a schedule for my videos.

I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to get done with everything before Monday. I got in a car accident yesterday and I'll be a little sore for a day or two. Plus, I have to get a car in order to drive to and from school after the rental car my insurance is providing runs out. I'm hoping that the costs to fix my car costs less than the worth of my car so the insurance will pay for it and I can have my baby back.

The Reading Challenge on GoodReads is going pretty well for me. I'm only 5 books behind schedule, which is much better that it's been for the whole year. I was hoping that I could get ahead a little in case I got caught up once school started, but I won't be able to read that many books this weekend. Plus, I'm behind on my reviews as it is. I think I've got to finish five or six.

Thankfully, I'll be able to work on everything I need this weekend without having to worry about getting anything else done except laundry and other household stuff.

Monday, August 12

Happy National Julienne Fries Day!

After having to look up today's date, I realize that I've been behind a day and need to go change the sign-in sheet at the library.

It's been a long week for my house. We had our carpets cleaned and then a yard sale right after. Thankfully, all of that is over with and I can go back to living my regular life of solitude and not doing anything very interesting.

Because we were able to sell almost all of the heavy and big furniture we dragged up from the basement, my mom and I now have way too much space floating around down there. The workout area in our house has tripled in size and that means we can finally bring the treadmill down from the family room and get an actual couch. Which means she'll want to get a matching loveseat for the basement. And a tv. And I'm okay with that.

Hopefully, I'll be able to finish my hub for my June/July Book Haul tomorrow and maybe even get to the video. Then I'll be all caught up and can continue with the book reviews once a week like before. Right now, I'm trying to catch up to my goal of reading 50 books this year and I'm still six books behind schedule. That means comic books, books with 100 pages, and manga for a month.

School shouldn't get in the way of my progress, but I'll keep posting updates about my plans on book related links.

And to my friend Caitlyn who discovered today that I'm attempting to keep up a blog, hello! And please don't hate me because you're finding out just how boring I am.

Saturday, August 3

It’s good to be back! My mom and I went on an extended vacation to visit family in Texas. We got to meet our new cousin and hold him when he got back from the hospital.

I recently found out that the cats were peeing in their basket in my study and on the bath rug in my bathroom while we were out. I think it has something to do with the twins who were staying in our house while we were gone. They aren’t used to having them around for long periods of time. This means that I have to clean up all of that weeks after they did it. And stains are hard to get out, no matter what you use.

Anjila, my mom, and I found this beautiful bookshelf at AFW for 100 bucks. I managed to put it together in under and hour and put all my books away shortly after. Kevin helped me organize and catalog them.

Earlier this morning, I recorded my video for The Black Cauldron book review and the editing should be done soon. I’m tempted to add a little blurb about the movie, but it was hard enough to get a setup for the video the first time. I had to stack 21 books on top of each other on my desk just to get the camera at eye-level. My cat plays a little role in it, playing with the curtain behind me. She’s so loud!

The plan is to finish writing the reviews (both written and video) for the books I hurriedly read on vacation and at home so I can make my goal of 50 books this year. After I finish with them, I should be able to read about a book every two weeks or so and make a video on Fridays. I think that's the only day I don't have a class. The video for my June/July book haul will come out in the next few days, hopefully. There's not a lot of books to go through, thankfully.

My mom and I are hosting a garage/yard sale next weekend that proves to be overflowing. In addition to all the stuff we're selling (which includes seven large trash bags full of clothes, desks, and old shelves), we've got our neighbor's furniture, Caitlyn and Kim's stuff, and maybe some things Kristin wants to get rid of. Hopefully, we'll be able to get rid of most of it and donate the rest to Goodwill. We might be able to make enough money to buy a new washer and dryer.

I'm currently trying to finish reading The Great Train Mystery by Michael Crighton. I can't get through very much of it every night because I'm too tired to stay awake for it, but it should be done in a few days. The weekends are always easier for me to get through books like this.

Wednesday, May 22

Happy National Vanilla Pudding Day!

Today is a particularly interesting day. It's one of the days that I actually have off, which means that I get to catch up on all the stuff I've been neglecting. Mainly writing and reading. Sadly, books can't write themselves. Or read themselves. And my book is due back at the library this week. I really don't like renewing the books, but I might have no choice on this one.

In addition, I've also got stuck on this never-ending Harry Potter marathon. I'm trying to finish this chapter and watch it at the same time. It's so difficult to pay attention to both at the same time. And the movies are winning out.

My reading/reviewing has been at a standstill for a while and I hope that in the next few days it'll pick up quickly. A new video review should be up sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday and the written one should be done before then.