the midnight garden: Crown of Embers ARC prize pack!

the midnight garden: Crown of Embers ARC prize pack!: If you're a fan of romantic fantasy and adventure, you've probably already seen all the rave reviews for Rae Carson's Girl of Fire and Tho...

The Booby Trap by Anne Browning Walker

       A fellow reviewer brought my attention to The Booby Trap and I was quite excited to read it.  I liked the idea of research, waitressing, and some fun romance.  The story started off well and my excitement about the possibilities of the book built.  However, the book did not live up to my expectations.

Harvard Ph.D student Bambi is working at The Booby Trap for research purposes for her dissertation and to help pay rent.  She dreams of going to the Annual Women's Studies Conference in London, England.  

Enter Trip Whitley of Belles and Beaux Dating Service - a family owned and operated business.  At a business meeting to ramp up advertising, the PR firm suggests that Trip needs to be seen dating one woman for an extended amount of time to highlight the match making abilities of the company.  Trip's dad threatens that Trip's role at the company will diminish if Trip doesn't agree to the scheme and show up for an ice skating date on Saturday.  I found this situation a bit hard to believe, but I suspended disbelief and soldiered on.

Despite his anger at being forced into a monogamous relationship, Trip and his best friend Pat visit the Booby Trap for Pat's bachelor party.   Bambi is Trip's waitress and he assumes she is a dingbat and decides to drive his dad and the PR firm crazy by hiring Bambi to be his pretend girlfriend.  How better to get revenge that to be seen dating a hot bimbo?  Trip waits outside for Bambi and presents his idea.  She initially says no, but then realizes the money is exactly what she needs to attend the Women's Conference.  She also decides to use their time together to teach him a lesson about making assumptions about women.  I found it hard to believe that a Ph.D student would have time to worry about teaching a rude man a lesson over a 9 month period (the agreed-upon dating period) and be willing to spend her precious time with a man she can't stand.  

A camera crew follow Trip and Bambi on each of their dates and Bambi feels the requisite "tingle" when Trip touches her calf to help put on her skates on their first date.  On the second date, Bambi meets Trip's judgmental parents and then we meet Trip's long lost love - Madison.  Drama ensues from parental involvement and a misunderstanding/scheme by Madison.  Despite a few other issues, Trip and Bambi end up together for a HAE ending.

I so wanted to like this novel and believe the characters.  But, I didn't.  I don't see real chemistry between Trip and Bambi.  I'm not a fan of the "buy a date" trope, so that does color my reading.    

Delinquent

I am a total delinquent. I have not posted those pictures that I promised Wednesday. I will post those, but I have a new project to show!

I love all the snowman and snow decorations that I am seeing on all the creative blogs so I have made a few things for our house. This is one of the latest - four frames that spell out "snow".

I think I like the "N" paper and snow flakes the best.

I used glitter letters and paper scraps that I found in my stash. I love winter stickers so I had plenty from which to choose. I think it turned out pretty cute. :) I am already working on "LOVE" to replace the "snow" in February.

On a totally different subject, my creative writing friend has introduced me to a few new books that I really want to get, hopefully for my birthday! :) They are List Your Self, Awe-Manac, and my new find: The Write Brain. Have you seen these books? They are so fun. I could spend days reading and writing and being inspired by them. I absconded with the books and I've used a few of the prompts with my high school students to some degree of success. 1st period didn't like them so much, but how many people really feel up to creative writing at 7:30 in the morning? I love to write and I still find 7:30 to be a little much for the creative process to actually work.

I don't know

Monday was fun times with the infertility doctor. He was very nice and made me feel comfortable and valued. "Valued" may seem like an odd word but after hearing "I don't know" and "maybe another can help" so many times, it was nice to speak with a doctor that wanted to help. He has a plan and even if it's not a fun plan, I like that he knows what he is doing. I start a bunch (8) of tests next week and all of them sound icky. HSG, saline sonogram, 3 day test, MRI, etc. I don't really know what all of that entails, but I get to find out next week. Anyone survived one of these tests and want to tell me about it?

On to happier topics: scrapbooking and projects. Yay! I worked on the houses and church more this weekend. I thought one house was going to be white with green shutters and a green polka-dot roof. As I painted, however, I changed my mind. I will keep the green shutters but I have decided to use polka-dot paper to cover the house and then I think I'll do a glitter roof. (You know I have to use glitter somewhere.) Then for the pink house, I was working with glitter and it wasn't turning out like I wanted. So I opened up my Stickles and used the pink Stickles to outline the windows and door. Ta-Da! Perfect. I love me some Stickles! I'll post the pictures this evening.
I did finish the church. I covered the base, eaves, and roof with snow stuff which I then liberally coated with white glitter. It turned out really cute, I think. My DH even liked it. I promise to post those pictures as soon as I get home from teaching. Speaking of...

Projects to Help Me Procrastinate! Yay!

I'm obsessed with winter decorating right now; I think mainly because I don't want a big hole left in my home decor by taking down the Christmas tree, Santa Clauses, etc., etc. So I pulled out all my snowmen, moose, snow globes, etc. The problem is, in my new house, my old decorations aren't enough. They filled my tiny apartment just fine, but this house? Not so much. I decided to make decorations after looking at several websites for inspiration. I started with one house, then added another, then a church. Here's how they look so far:

I cut border out with my Cricut last night and I will add that to both houses for the "tile" work as the roof. Then I am going to cover the house with glitter and Ink Essential Glossy Accents. I'll take some pictures as I work this afternoon to show you. I did try embossing the border to see if it would give it enough shimmer, but it didn't. I like A LOT of glitter. I want it thick and shiny. I still relatively new to the embossing process so I might try again with a different embossing powder. Any ideas of a powder that will give a nice thick glossy look?

I'm not sure what I want to do as the next step for the church. I think I want to keep the tin roof, but I may put white or clear glitter all over the body of the church. Yes, I am addicted to glitter. You should have seen my wedding!

As I worked on my houses and church, I gave CJ (my chocolate lab) a bone to keep him occupied. He is still a puppy so he occasionally finds himself in the middle of mischief without even trying. The bone worked and kept him happy. I knew he enjoyed it when he came to find me with "scraps" on his cute little nose. He is sooo stinking cute!

Yummy Goodness and Not So Greatness

Have you tried the Fiber One yogurt yet? Oh my word - it is sooo good. I normally don't enjoy vanilla yogurt, but even the vanilla flavor is good. I eat at least one a day, 2-3 on a really hungry day. Love them!

I would post a picture of my dear personal favorite, Fiber One Vanilla yogurt, but, alas, my camera battery is dead. :( I'll take a picture as soon as it is revived and post it so you know what to look for in the grocery story. Or, even better: click here to check out the Fiber One Yogurt website with a coupon!

On to the Not-So-Greatness...I took my paperwork to the infertility doctor yesterday. I have endometriosis and adenomyosis and one other thing that I forget..andometriosis, I think. It's all just a little too much for me right now. My gyno referred me to the infertility doctor after I started having severe knife like pain in my abdomen about a month ago. I saw three different doctors and none of them had a clue as to the cause, so she sent me to the big guy. My appt is Monday. I don't even know what I exactly want this doctor to do except make the pain go away or at least not be quite so bad and quite so prevalent. More on that later...

Mess, Mess Everywhere!

Do you receive the Glade Company emails, or maybe it is the Simple Life emails? Either way, they are stalking me. They know me. They know my issues, and they exploit them. Take the latest email. A newsletter full of article about how to de-clutter and organize your house. REALLY? REALLY? I'm sitting in my home office now and I can't see the floor (well, kind of) because I have bags of things to file, things to shred, things to look through, things I might want to teach, and things to scrapbook.

Why aren't the scrapbook items in my scrapbook room? I honestly don't know. I really am an organized person. Most of the time. Notice in the top right hand corner of the picture? That's a birthday present to me that I can't open yet. I need to move that somewhere safe.

See the rack in the upper left hand corner? I should actually store things there rather than in random sacks, bags, and crates. I understand that; yet, it just hasn't happened. The wrack seems rather permanent and I'm not sure how much of this mess is taking up permanent residence in my house.

So, back to the organization newsletter. According to these people, I can look at the room and make a list of things to throw out, box up, give away, keep, etc. I like that I can make a list. I'm a list kind of girl. But, just look at things and know what is trash, what is donation, what is a keeper? I don't work that way. Perhaps that is part of the issue...but, anyway, I'm trying to organize my office. Obviously since I'm writing this, the organizing isn't going so well. As I type, this is what my desk looks like; I'm so ashamed.

I understand I need professional help. If you have suggestions for treatment, let me know. :)