Month: May 2013

I’m Famous!

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Okay, well I’m not really famous (at least not yet), but I’m playing famous in a new book that came out last week!  In 2003 a friend of mine, let’s call her Julie, asked me if I’d read a book she had written.  Of course, I said yes, and she gave me and several others her book.  After we read it she wanted our opinion and even had us all get together to talk about it.  A mere 10 years later and she’s a published author – with the book I read those many years ago.  When I received my book last week I was honored to be mentioned in the dedication.  It was so sweet of her.

IMG_12580The original (can you believe I still have it?!) and it’s official published version.

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I haven’t read the book yet (I have a few commitments first) so I’ll tell you a little about Julie.  We met through the social group New Clevelanders and played Couples Euchre once a month.  Julie and her husband Ed were favorites of Jason and mine and we were lucky to call them friends.  Julie and Ed are such a fun couple, always challenging themselves and enjoying life.  I loved being around their spark.  They moved to Texas several years ago and we miss our competitive euchre games and fun evenings together.

You can follow Julie’s blog or follow her on Facebook.  You might see me around there too 🙂

We bought a new computer and nothing is working right 😦  Sorry about the photo quality and cropping.  I’ll come back and fix it when I can get around on this new computer better.  And I started Bloglovin at the same time and am having all kinds of trouble.  I hate change when it makes more work for me!

April’s 5 Word Movie Reviews – with money for charity

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You know the drill, add your 5 words to mine and earn $1 for charity.  Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity.  Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and to see the other reviews you can add to.  You guys are off to a good start with $46 so far.

Edited to add-After I saw Feel good movie for 42 it seemed wrong. It is a serious movies about deplorable behavior in some.  It’s the behavior of the good guys that made me feel good.  I’m sure I just made that more confusing than it needed to be.

42 film poster.jpg42, 2013 (Cast-Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie)      Grade A-

Feel good movie. Loved it.

Jackie admirable ALL his years  (Jill)

Extremely loud and incredibly close film poster.jpgExtremely Loud & Incredibly Close, 2011 (Cast-Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow)    Grade B+

Heartbreaking and emotional 9/11 journey.

Family’s love triumphs over tragedy.  (Kathy)

 Amazing story both book, movie.  (Heather)

Game Change 2012 poster.jpgGame Change, 2012 (Cast-Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris)       Grade B

Palin unmasked. Just as expected.

My Sarah Palin suspicions confirmed.  (Michelle)

Politics and Palin uber crazy.  (Heather)

Theatrical posterPuss in Boots, 2011 (Cast-Anotonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis)     Grade C

Humpty Dumpty is very bitter.

Antonio Banderas, meowy booty goodness ;)  (Heather)

Antonio Banderas as Zorro, III.  (Tony)

Snow White and the Huntsman Poster.jpgSnow White and the Huntsman, 2012. (Cast-Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth)      Grade C

The Huntsman was worth it.

 Stewart is no charming princess. (Sandy)

Kristen Stewart – same expression constantly – :-(  (Kay)

Charlize Theron tore it up!  (Michelle)

 Hot huntsman, Snow White … sad.  (Sheree)

If only she stayed dead….  (Heather)

Dog Park FilmPoster.jpegDog Park, 1999 (Cast-Luke Wilson, Natasha Henstridge, Janeane Garofalo Bruce McCulloch)     Grade D+

Needed more dogs, less owners.

Seconds Away by Harlan Coben

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Seconds Away (Mickey Bolitar Series #2)Seconds Away. Finished audio 4-28-13, rating 4/5, YA thriller, pub. 2012

Unabridged audio. 7 hours 46 minutes. Read by Nick Podehl who did a fantastic job as Mickey.

Book 2 of the Mickey Bolitar series (Book 1)

Mickey Bolitar is a smart kid with a smart mouth (just like his uncle Myron) and this book picks up just a week after the first one.  Mickey is a kid who knows how to find trouble, or maybe trouble finds him, either way, his story is a thrill ride that few high school sophomores are able to experience.  His dad is still dead (probably), his mom is still a junkie in rehab, and his uncle is still his caretaker, other than that life moves on.  He gets caught in a fire at Bat Lady’s house, find out who the bald man in the sunglasses is, tries to figure out who shot his crush and killed her mom, finds out the truth about Ema’s parents, and tries out for the basketball team.  I had forgotten how much trouble teenagers could find in a day!

I liked this one a lot, maybe even a little better than the first.  I had to suspend disbelief from the beginning, but once I did that I just hung on for the ride. Many of these storylines (Bat Lady, the Butcher, his dad’s death) are continuations from the first book, but there are so many new threads to the story that it felt new.  Some things got wrapped up, some things didn’t and I am looking forward to spending more time with Mickey in the next book.

I wish Coben would write more Myron books so I liked seeing him show up in this one.  If you like the Myron series and you are willing to read about teens then this series is lots of fun.

I checked the audio out of the library.

Pin in and do it challenge

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Trish is at it again and because I seem to be challenge crazy right now I am signing up.  I will keep myself sane by signing up at the Timid level promising just 1-3 Pinterest posts this month.  Now that my A-Z challenge is over (thank you all for sticking with me!) I need to start challenging Gage with some projects I’ve pinned.  I may try other things too but my goal is Gage activities.

If you want to join in stop by Trish’s post and see the details.  It’s an easy, no stress process, I promise.  Trust me, I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.