Rosemary and Rue

This is the first book in Seanan McGuire's October Daye series, and I thought I'd bring it to your attention. We are now up to the fourth book, I think, but it's no good bringing the fourth book in a series to anyone's attention - if you already like the series, you know about it already, and if you've never tried it, you're not likely to start with the fourth book. But, Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors, and as I promised books on this blog, I thought that now would be an opportune time to plug someone I consider one of the most fun and prolific authors writing today.

It is a testament to how incredibly good they are that whenever I read myself to a stopping place in the October Daye series (i.e. the last published book - so that I have to wait for McGuire's writing to catch up with my reading), the world becomes a sadder place. Patience is never my strong suit.

I began reading the series largely because I love the Newsflesh series so much (first book is Feed, by Mira Grant, McGuire's pseudonym). I am now hooked into this one as well, though to a lesser extent. Toby Daye's world is reminiscint of Charles De Lint's, with more of an emphasis on Celtic folklore and more believable, multi-dimensional characters. Toby is a faery knight cum private investigator, and she never runs out of crimes to solve, thanks to the faery-world's Macchiavellian royal court system and abundance of shady characters. There is a lot of backstory that is revealed in tantalizing little bits - and even more, the further you get into the series. McGuire has said on occasion, on her blog, or in interviews, that she admires Stephen King, and I can see it. As a would-be writer myself, I admire her, because she's learned a lot of King's tricks without copying him in any way. She is very much her own voice. This is a smart fantasy book series, and I think you all should read it.

I also think you should read Feed. But that is another post for another time.

An Advent-itious post

It may not be quite time for this picture yet, but it is time to start thinking about Christmas - or at least about Advent - that time of year when we start thinking about thinking about Christmas! So, for today's post, I thought I'd give you a collection of what I consider to be some of the most fun Advent calendars out there this year, to get you in the Christmas spirit in these upcoming weeks!

The first one is an Advent calendar, the kind with fun activities for each day. You can find it online at Smart Martha's blog at http://smartmartha.com/Documents/AdventCalendar.pub.pdf
My daughter and I will be starting the activities tomorrow. A few days late this year, but better late than never, right?

Or, in case you would prefer your Advent calendar online: http://www.smmp.com/Advent/Advent.php
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Advent/Advent-Calendar.aspx
http://www.teachingmom.com/features/advent.html (This one gets my vote, hands down! It is chock-full of book and movie suggestions, information about how Christmas is celebrated in other countries, games, recipes, and all the holiday fun your little heart could desire, all in one convenient spot.)

And here is a neat one from Allrecipes - a cookie calendar. It's actually from 2007, but last time I checked, December has 24 days before Christmas every year, so that shouldn't really be an issue: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Christmas-Cookie-Countdown-2007/Detail.aspx

And you can never, never, go wrong with the kind that is filled with chocolate: http://www.candywarehouse.com/adventcalendar.html

How about you? Do you use an Advent calendar? Do you have any neat holiday website suggestions?

Fun for the whole family

Today I thought I'd share with you a few of my family's favorite fun websites (Wow, am I good with the alliteration today, or what?)

www.sporcle.com is a quiz game website. Quizzes are mostly timed, and range from the obscure - name all the top 10 boys' names starting with 'M' from each decade between 1890 and 2010, to the relatively easy - what four things did Snoopy serve for Thanksgiving dinner in the classic special? If you have a spare ten minutes and want to have a good time with your kids, this is a good bet, especially if one of you is a fast typist. Seriously, if you are a quick thinker and a slow typer, I can't think of any single website that would be more frustrating.

The other fun website is called Akinator, and you can get to it by going to www.akinator.com. Akinator is a genie who plays 20 Questions, and he is uncannily good at guessing any character you can come up with, from your yoga teacher to Fringe's Walternate, to Aeschylus.



What are your favorite game websites?

10 (Not) on Thursday

And because I missed it yesterday, here is my belated list for the day!

10 Things You Wish You Knew How to Do

1. Change the oil in my car. Think of all the money I would save! But alas, I can't even change a tire. Maybe I shouldn't admit that?

2. Speak 5 languages. Hey, Queen Elizabeth I could. And Rosetta Stone hadn't even been invented in her day. So far, I'm up to: English, French, the Spanish level of a 2-year-old, and a random smattering of words in other languages including Italian, Russian and Portuguese.

3. Get my daughter to be polite all the time, and never eat too many sweets. (Did I say this was a realistic list?)

4. Make cannolis. I have a cannoli mold now, since my birthday. I'm halfway there!

5. Fly a plane. Someday, I will! Probably the most expensive thing on this list though.

6. Play the piano very well. Practice would help with this, I'm sure.

7. Sew. Again, would be so cost-effective. Or at least make me feel like we, as a society, aren't losing all of our skills as we give all of the knowledge and power over to companies who do everything for us.

8. Create an iPhone app game. I have a good idea for one. Or at least one I would like to play.

9. Fix broken computers and appliances. See #1 and #7.

10. Motivate myself to work on some of the many things I would like to know how to do every day, so I'm not just all talk!

How about you, blog reader? I'm dying to know what you would like to know how to do!

Using our noggins

Ok, that's a bad title, but what else do you call a post about eggnog? We had a lot of great Thanksgiving food yesterday - and thanks to a few vegans in the crowd, both a turkey and a tofurkey. (The turkey is better, but for some reason you can eat more tofurkey than turkey. Maybe because soy products are less filling than meat?). But the real standout recipe of the day was this incredibly fast and easy recipe for vegan eggnog. I am giving it to you, because it's the kind of thing that you'll be able to use more than a few times this holiday season.

Quick Eggless Nog

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg.
Per cup.

In a cup or pitcher, depending on how much you'd like to make, stir everything together. Drink up and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we've been a little busy around here with lots of company, a little hot core power yoga, and LOTS OF FOOD! I'll have more to say tomorrow, but for now, wherever you are, I hope that today you got to enjoy a good meal with good friends.

TV night

We're watching Spanish Muzzy around here tonight. I didn't realize there wouldn't be any subtitles! I should get the book, but it's across the room and Bella's falling asleep on my lap. She's so sweet when she sleeps. ;) I am gratified to find that I already understand most of it anyway, though.

Buenas noches, blog readers.