Coming Soon

This blog will soon be moving. I recently moved my author site to WordPress, and now I love it. I'm especially fond of the ability to schedule posts in the future. So I'm moving this blog over in a week or so. The look will be similar to this one, with a few added flourishes. I'll post a link once it's ready to go.

That means I've been going in and adding labels to the posts I hadn't gotten to. I don't know if that means these posts will show up again on blog readers. If they do, you'll know why.

I've also decided I need a challenge to get me scrapbooking again. So my goal will be simple--a two-page layout every two weeks. That should be doable, and maybe it will help me get my craft room straightened up a bit as well. I'll post the scrapbook pages here, so this will be my scrapbooking and reading blog.

I've been plodding my way through true-crime book Murdered Innocents, by Corey Mitchell. I think it could have been shortened considerably. Sometimes condensing is a good thing. I'll decide whether to finish it. Maybe I'll just skim to the end.

Layouts

When it comes to scrapbooking, I tend to go in phases. I either do very little or a lot all at once. Right now I'm in a frequent scrapbooking stage, so I thought I'd post a few of my recent spreads.

This one is from the time my coworkers decorated my cubicle for my birthday. It's a crime scene theme, as you can see. The journaling is under the picture that says clues on the tab.




Here's the first one in my series about the Winchester Mystery House. I have dozens of photos, so I know I'll be working on these layouts for a while. In this one, the journaling is beneath the postcard. I used magnetic closures to keep the card in place.




And here are two from the trip to Santa Cruz. I really wish I was back there right now.





The photos don't really do the pages justice. My scanner is still broken, and I never bought a replacement.

Realizations and Good News

I knew I had a lot of scrapbooking supplies, but I didn't realize how many I had until I started trying to put them into some kind of order. I had to buy a second filing cart for my 12 x 12 paper, and I imagine I will be organizing stickers and die-cuts into the next century. If I'm lucky.

I discovered something a bit more disturbing last week. I tend not to watch the news, so I don't always learn about things right when they happen. So this week, I'm eating lunch with my coworkers and they mention the new thing with credit cards that will increase payments in January. To say that this is disturbing is an understatement. I understand that it will help people get out of debt, but it will be problematic for me.

Good thing I have cut back on book buying sprees.

So it looks like I will be stepping up my candle business a bit and trying to come up with other ways to earn money. I don't want to take a part-time job, but I might have to consider it depending on how high payments go. I absolutely must have my garage sale next spring. Not only will it bring in a little money, it will also help with the clutter.

Anyone want to buy any candles? LOL!

Enough of that for now. My good news: my 2005 NaNoWriMo entry is more or less complete at 50, 111 words. If I want to do something with it, it would need a lot of revision, but I'm still enjoying the fact that I met the goal. Yay!

10 Days

Ten days now until the air conditioning is installed. Not that I'm counting. LOL! I am working long hours at work this week. I wish it were already July 27.

I went to a friend's house last night and did some scrapbooking. It was a lot of fun, and I really like the pages I created.

Fabulous Fourth, Page 1
Fabulous Fourth, Page 2

Finding Bones, Page 1
Finding Bones, Page 2

Sea, Sand, Sun, Page 1
Sea, Sand, Sun, Page 2

It's hard to believe that the new Harry Potter book is out. I have it reserved, but I probably won't pick up my copy until next week. I'm surprisingly unexcited to start reading it. I may or may not get to it before my vacation.

Suzanne Brockmann's Breaking Point is also out. I bought a copy through her website that I will pick up in Reno. This is Gina and Max's story, and I have to admit that I haven't been especially anxious to read it. In past books, I've been annoyed by the way Gina keeps pushing and pushing Max. Max hasn't helped matters; he doesn't talk to her about things that matter. My expectations about this book aren't very high, but obviously I'm still interested enough to buy the hardcover.

I'll probably do my usual Saturday routine soon and go shopping--to a store with air conditioning. I may pick up Harry Potter today after all.

More Scrapbook Pages

I did more scrapbooking. Here are some pages from the Target Tampa event I attended in January.

Signing in Tampa, Page 1
Signing in Tampa, Page 2

Obviously I like the metal-rimmed tags these days. I've used them on all six pages I created this weekend.

Scrapbooking True Confession

Sometimes scrapbookers will decide what to wear (or what their children should wear) based on a paper they want to use when they scrapbook the pictures. This is 100% true. Scrapbookers reading this are likely to nod in agreement, while people who don't scrapbook are wondering, what the &#@*?

I finally scrapbooked my photos from Scottsdale, Arizona. My original plan was to use supplies from a recent Club Scrap kit, and yes, I selected my outfit to coordinate with the paper. I don't know what else to say besides it's a sickness.

At any rate, it didn't work out as I expected. I ended up needing to change my shirt, which blew the whole coordination plan, as I discovered when I got out the kit to scrapbook. But I scrapbooked the pictures anyway. My scanner is bizarre sometimes. I love it because it can scan items up to 12 x 17, but it doesn't always get colors right. Anyway, here are the pages.

Scottsdale, Page 1
Scottsdale, Page 2
Poisoned Pen, Page 1
Poisoned Pen, Page 2

The color besides yellow on the Scottsdale pages is actually lavender, though my scanner makes it difficult to tell. I haven't decided whether to add a title and journaling to the large tag or only journaling.

I used the same stamp set and tags on the Scottsdale and Poisoned Pen pages to reinforce the fact that they are from the same trip. The second color on the Poisoned Pen pages is a teal that leans more toward green. I tried blue, but didn't like the way it looked as well. Not that you can really tell from the scans. Sigh.

Luckily I have plenty of time to decide what to wear to the Reno signing. Ha ha.

No Time to Blog . . .

. . . because I'm backing up the files on my computer. I should have done this long ago, but the need is more urgent since Nicole mentioned that my computer might be on its last, er, desk? Last legs doesn't quite seem appropriate.

So, I'm uploading all of my scrapbooking layouts to Snapfish, and putting all of my other files on disks. Not CDs, mind you, but disks, because I don't have a CD burner--now I'm suddenly wondering if I need a CD burner. Sometimes I feel quite computer saavy while other times I feel woefully behind the times.

In any case, I'm backing up files. In the meantime, please enjoy two scrapbook pages I created last night.

Baby's Got Blue Eyes, Page 1
Baby's Got Blue Eyes, Page 2

The pictures are of one of my nieces.

Alyssa

Writer in the Making

I don't write books, but I am a full-time writer and editor. I'm having one of those weeks where I can't remember why I wanted to write in the first place. Then I remembered the answer: I've always written; it's what I do.

Here is a scrapbook page featuring an Alyssa-original story. I'm not sure how old I was when I wrote it--probably the second or third grade? Little did I know that I was dealing with some fairly adult themes.



If you don't want to try and decipher the handwriting, here's the story/poem:

Samson
Samson was a mouse.
He lived in America.
He sat on a house.
He kissed in a rocket.
He met me in my pocket.
He loved my boyfriend.
He married him Boo Hoo!
DumB Mouse!

When I discover things like these, I'm glad I am a packrat. There are some pretty funny moments about this poem--the apparently bisexual boyfriend as well as the obvious challenge of a boy/mouse relationship--but I love that it helps me remember why I like writing. I enjoy being creative. Even if I am writing about a mouse.

Alyssa

Miscellany

I'm having fun in the Books Lost and Found yahoogroup established by Sybil and Kristie. Here's how it works: everyone shares her wish list, which is compiled into a spreadsheet that group members can download and take with them to used bookstores. The group is just starting, and if the idea intrigues you, I encourage you to join.

I made a trip to the used bookstore today. I hadn't been planning one, since my TBR books are already out of control, but I loved the idea of finding books for other people, so off I went. And guess what? I found eight books for Sybil, two for Kristie, and one for Tara Marie. I also found five or six for myself. It was just as much fun finding books other people wanted.

I stopped at Michaels before going to the bookstore. I wanted to get a trimmer that was on sale; of course, I also bought a bunch of other scrapbooking embellishments. Sometimes I have no willpower. As I review my purchases, it looks like I left a bag of stuff at Michaels. Grrr. I'm glad I noticed now, although it's too late to run back for it tonight.

I think I mentioned last week that I went to a scrapbooking party. Last night I finished the pages; click on the links below to see them.

A Friend, Page 1
A Friend, Page 2

Make a Wish, Page 1
Make a Wish, Page 2
Make a Wish, Page 3
Make a Wish, Page 4

I wrote an article for work about using patterned paper, and I decided to put it to use on the A Friend pages. I love patterned paper (and have a ton of it), but I thought it would be nice not just to use it as the background. As for the Make a Wish pages, they finally gave me an opportunity to use some embellishments I've had for years. Yay!

Alyssa

NSD Results

National Scrapbooking Day (NSD) is coming to an end. The results: I researched several more digital cameras and ultimately gave myself a headache. My current plan is to hope my dying camera still takes decent portraits. I need to take something with me to Wednesday's book signing, and I doubt I'll have figured out what camera I want before I leave.

I scrapbooked four pages:

Bon Voyage, Page 1
Bon Voyage, Page 2

Bright Holiday, Page 1
Bright Holiday, Page 2

I started another scrapbook spread (a spread equals two pages), but I'm missing a photo, and I'm not sure I like the color scheme I came up with. Looks like they will have to wait.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

Alyssa

National Scrapbooking Day

There seems to be a day for everything, and most of them go by without notice. Not today, however. The first Saturday in May is National Scrapbooking Day, so I'm going to do some scrapbook-related activities. First, I'm going to research more cameras. I've been putting off the whole camera-buying thing, and I need to stop delaying and decide what I want. Even if it's not a digital camera at all. Second, I'm going to scrapbook! We'll see what I come up with.

Alyssa

Library Book Sale

I'm back from the library book sale. That trip was an adventure. There was a marathon in downtown Salt Lake City today, so I spent about 20 minutes maneuvering the streets trying to go the final four blocks.

Once I arrived, I realized that the library was in a completely different building. It's been several years since I went there, obviously. It was on the same block, just one building north. Anyway, I was shocked by the size of the book sale area. The new building is HUGE, but the sale area is probably one-third the size it was in the smaller building. Then I went looking for the romance section. They didn't have a romance section. !? They had a mystery/true crime section and a fiction section, which included romance. The entire paperback fiction section was about one-fourth the size of the paperback romance section at previous sales. So that was disappointing.

On the other hand, less to choose from meant I didn't have to be picky about what I purchased. I initially thought I would fill my bag, then buy what I wanted most. Instead, I ended up buying everything I put in my bag. For $13, I bought:

• Almost Like Being in Love, Christina Dodd: I enjoyed the first one in the series and thought I'd try the second.


• Blue Dahlia, Nora Roberts: I never got around to buying this one.


• Bubbles A Broad, Sarah Strohmeyer: I have the first three in the series, so I snatched this ARC.


• Conspiracy in Death, J.D. Robb: I'll add this to my lending library.


• Forever Blue, Suzanne Brockmann: It's a first edition in great condition.


• A Game of Chance, Linda Howard: After reading and liking To Die For, I thought I'd try this one.


• Knock Me Off My Feet, Susan Donovan: The cover appealed to me.


• Overload, Linda Howard: I read "night in an elevator" on the back cover and put it in my bag immediately.


• Paris or Bust, Kate Hoffman, Jacqueline Diamond, and Jill Shalvis: I'm still collecting Jill Shalvis's books.


• Rapture in Death, J.D. Robb: I'll add this to my lending library.


• Red Roses Mean Love, Jacquie D'Alessandro: I've been looking for this book since I read the library copy.


• A Rogue in Texas, Lorraine Heath: I am always looking for Always to Remember by this author; I didn't find it, but I picked this up.


• The Seventh Suitor, Laura Matthews: I remember loving Matthews' books 10 years ago; I can't remember if I read this one but decided to buy it.


• The Tender Stranger, Diana Palmer: Amazingly enough, I don't think I've read this book by one of my guilty pleasure authors.


• Texas Destiny, Lorraine Heath: I read the third in the series and thought I'd try this one.


• 'Tis the Season, Vicki Lewis Thompson: I hadn't gotten around to buying a copy; this one looks like new.


• To Die For, Linda Howard: I'll add this to my lending library.

So I got an interesting variety of stuff. When I got back from the sale, I created two scrapbook pages:

Thoroughly Modern, Page 1
Thoroughly Modern, Page 2

It reminded me (again) that I need to strive for balance. Work and reading does not a full life make--at least, not for me. I'm hoping to scrapbook more and mix things up a bit so I have more variety in my life. One of these days I might actually do something about it instead of just talking about it. :)

Alyssa

Adventures in Wax

So I was burning a small votive candle in my bedroom, and I was getting ready to go to sleep. I was too lazy to get out of bed to get the candle snuffer, so I tilted the candle holder so I could blow it out. As you might imagine, it slipped out of my hand. The good news is that very little of the wax got on my carpet. The bad news is that more than a dozen books are now splattered with wax. So far I've been able to get most of the books clean, but I've set aside the ones with the most wax on them for later. And I'm hoping to figure out a better method for wax removal than scraping it off with my fingernails.

My candle snuffer is now by my bed.

Last night I scrapbooked for the first time in weeks. Here are two pages about January's trip to Florida.

Florida, Page 1
Florida, Page 2

Today's the first day of the big library book sale. I'm going to try and be selective today, but on Tuesday I'll go back and take advantage of the bag of books for $5.

Alyssa

Latest Scrapbook Pages

As promised, here are links to my latest scrapbook pages. The scans on a few of them are less than perfect, but should still let you see them:

Birthday Bash, Page 1
Birthday Bash, Page 2

Sweet Girl, Page 1
Sweet Girl, Page 2

The Way to Know Life, Page 1
The Way to Know Life, Page 2

Alyssa

When the Lights Go Out . . .

Barbara Daly's When the Lights Go Out . . . is one of those books with silly punctuation at the end of the title. It's also pretty frustrating: 1.5 out of 5.

Blythe Padgett's roommate wants to set her up on a blind date. Blythe refuses and plans to head home when the power goes out in the city. After making the long walk home, she finds a man stuck in an elevator in her apartment building. They work together to get him out of the elevator. Once they succeed, he says he's there for a blind date with a woman on her floor, so she invites him into her apartment. Things heat up from there.

This book is from Harlequin Temptation's The Wrong Bed series. I've enjoyed many books in this series, and I know not to expect realism from the story, but this one is more implausible than most. Blythe is getting over a bad relationship, so her roommate wants to set her up with someone just to have sex. Once Blythe and Max have sex, Blythe discovers that he was her roommate's blind date. In the meantime, the couple has fallen into very serious like (if not love), even though they know next to nothing about each other.

I'm not sure if this book is trying to be zany fun, but if so, it doesn't succeed. Blythe's roommate comes across as a caricature, as does the man (not Max) who was supposed to be Blythe's blind date. But Max and Blythe aren't exactly well-rounded characters, either. There's a lot of talking going on in this book, but no one says what he really thinks. And I still don't know why Blythe and Max fall in love.

Before I had finished even a third of the book, I knew I probably wouldn't enjoy it. Most of the time I finish books I start, though, even if I don't like them. It takes an awful lot to get me to stop reading a book with no intention of finishing it. I finished this one because I wanted to be able to say that I read the whole thing.

On to something else. I went to a friend's house last night, and we had a scrapbooking party. I did three pages.

Tampa--This will be the first page in an album. I don't think I have enough photos to make an entire album about the Target Tampa weekend event, but I might be surprised. If not, I'll put it in a vacation or book signing album.

Valentine Signing--This uses the picture from the Rachel Gibson signing. I don't actually know the woman on the left; the man who took my picture invited her to join the photo because she was also at the table. So there she is. He took another photo with just me and Rachel Gibson (who is on the right, by the way), but it's not a flattering picture of either of us. I didn't have room on this layout to write everything I wanted, so I may write more on a tag and tuck it behind the picture.

Prehistoric Beauty--The photo is one of those funky pictures where your face is added to a stock head and body. I got the picture during a trip while I was in high school. I've been wanting to scrapbook this one for some time, and I finally found a cool background paper that goes well with it.

My next post will be about another Temptation author, one whose books I am enjoying.

Alyssa

Weekend Report

My three-day weekend is gone, and I'm not sure where it went.

On Saturday, I read a lot. Yesterday I read and scrapbooked. Today I read and scrapbooked. I started my March Romancing the Blog column. I didn't do the two articles for work I hoped I'd get to. I didn't write either of my book reviews. I'm not turning off my computer or going to bed until I finish one of them. I don't feel like I really had a vacation, either. Sigh.

I went scrapbook supply shopping today. My reason for going was my need for another sticker binder. I can't believe how many stickers I have, and I already have three binders. I'm stopping with four. I'm absolutely stopping at four. Since buying my house, I haven't bought a lot of scrapbooking supplies. I still have a ton of stuff from when I was a carefree renter. But they had a 40% off sale on stickers and 20% off all other scrapbooking supplies, and I just couldn't resist. I had to buy things like fingerprint vellum (see crime pages below), after all.

Like buying books, buying scrapbooking supplies is an addiction.

Here are the scrapbook pages. I made four about my nephew's 13th birthday. Birthday pages can be challenging for any scrapbooker, because there are so many birthdays each year (especially in a large family), and they occur every year. Sometimes you just run out of birthday creativity. Two of the pages are about my interest in true crime. (I'll add the apostrophe to the page in "it's"--I just have to find my black marker.) And the last page is from a basketball camp I attended before high school.

Happy Birthday to You, Page 1
Happy Birthday to You, Page 2
Happy Birthday to You, Page 3
Happy Birthday to You, Page 4

It's a Crime, Page 1
It's a Crime, Page 2

Nothing but Net

As for my weekend reading, I read Men of Courage II and The McKenzie Artifact. Both receive 4 out of 5.

Men of Courage II is an anthology with stories by Lori Foster, Donna Kauffman, and Jill Shalvis. It's been a while since I read the first Men of Courage anthology, but the stories are by the same authors, though I don't believe they are related. Kauffman's story about stormchasers is my favorite of the three and receives a 4.5, but Foster's and Shalvis's stories are also strong. Both receive 4 out of 5. I think I'll add Jill Shalvis to my authors-to-look-for-at-the-library list. I really enjoyed her installment but haven't read anything else by her (that I can recall).

This morning I read The McKenzie Artifact by Alison Kent. I confess that I was a little disappointed in The Beach Alibi. I had high hopes for it, since I enjoy the one-person-has-a-crush scenario. I didn't quite connect to the characters in that book. I think a longer story would have been better. The McKenzie Artifact was stronger. I like Stella and Eli. I connected with them both and thought their story was a nice combination of passion, emotion, and adventure.

Now that I've written a long blog entry, I must return to my book review.

Alyssa

Rachel Gibson Book Signing

Last night I attended Rachel Gibson's book signing at Borders bookstore. It was scheduled to start at 7:00 PM, so I made plans to leave my scrapbooking party for a while. I wanted to be there right on time, because I wasn't sure if there would be a Q&A session or anything else planned.

I arrived at Borders right at 7:00 with my bag of her books. She had a table and display just inside the door. I think I was the first person there, which made me a little shy, but I walked in and said I was there for the signing. I grabbed copies of The Trouble with Valentine's Day and Simply Irresistible (my used bookstore copy is well loved), and she signed them for me. I asked if she would sign books I brought from home, and she said she would be happy to do so.

We talked for a few minutes. I told her that See Jane Score was the first book of hers I read and that it's still my favorite. (Do authors really want to know such things, I wonder?)

She asked if I read historical romances as well as contemporaries. I said I did, but that contemporaries are my favorite subgenre. She asked what historical writers I enjoyed, and my mind went blank. I felt really silly, but after I few seconds I said I really enjoyed Julia Quinn.

By this time, there was a woman behind me. She mentioned that this was her first book signing. Rachel asked if authors came to Salt Lake City for signings, and I said it didn't happen too often. We have occasional signings, and local authors who sign, but when authors stop here on their book tours, it's the exception rather than the rule.

Rachel told me that she is working on a series of books about four friends. The first book will not come out for more than a year (a year is typical for her), but there will be less time between the connected books. I said that her books are well worth the wait. :)

Before I left, I asked if I could get my picture taken with her, and she said sure. So we had someone take two pictures with my camera, then the woman behind me stood next to us and there were two pictures taken with Rachel's camera. She said if they turned out well, she would post them at her website. That would be fun! We'll see.



I did some browsing around the store. They were having a buy-two-get-one-free sale, but it was only on selected books. The Trouble with Valentine's Day was a selected item, but I couldn't find two others I wanted. Pretty strange. Anyway, I noticed while I was browsing that there were always a few people at Rachel Gibson's table. I was glad to see that, because if I were an author, I'd hate to be at a signing when no one was there. I bought my books and left the store about 25 minutes after I arrived.

I went back to the scrapbooking party and did some birthday pages about my nephew:

He's Twelve, Page 1
He's Twelve, Page 2
He's Twelve, Page 3
He's Twelve, Page 4

This morning I put my Rachel Gibson books back on my shelf and realized that I hadn't brought Truly Madly Yours with me for her to sign because it was on my TBR bookcase, and I didn't even bother to look there. :( Well, maybe next time. Also, her website indicates that she is willing to sign books that you send her through the mail, so maybe I'll get it signed that way.

In an odd piece of news, I'm having a bit of car trouble. My car seemed to work just fine yesterday. I'm having a video party tonight, and I tried to start the car just to move it forward so there would be more room for people to park. It made a strange whirring, clicking sound when I tried to start the engine, and it won't turn over. This is not a good thing, although I am grateful that I got home before the problem started. It would not have been fun to be stranded at the bookstore or at my coworker's house. Send healthy car thoughts my way.

Alyssa

I've Got It

Survivor in Death was waiting for me when I got home from work today. Thank goodness--I was really starting to wonder about it. So that's what I'm reading now.

Here is the scrapbook page I did a few days ago. It's from college several years ago. I'm the one on the right. Sadly, I can't remember the names of the other women in the picture. Geez! Maybe I'll have some luck looking through my journals. It's a good lesson to me about how important it is to write down names while I remember them.

College Job

Tomorrow is Friday. I think I've finally conquered whatever cold or flu bug I had, but I'm still ready for the weekend. Rest is a good thing.

Alyssa

Finding Balance

Yesterday I created a scrapbook page while watching TV, and I realized that (gasp!) I've been reading too much. I didn't think that was possible, but now I see that I need to work in more scrapbooking time. I have plenty of pictures I can use, after all.

But don't worry. I imagine I'll still read frequently and post here several times a week. You'll just see a few more scrapbook pages, too. (I'll scan the one I did yesterday and post it here later.)

I'm still waiting to receive Survivor in Death. Hopefully it will be waiting for me today when I get home from work. If not, I'm still 100 pages or so from finishing Sherrilyn Kenyon's Seize the Night. I will not be without reading material. :)

Back to work.

Alyssa

The Heartbreak Kid

Grrr. I just lost a blog entry. I guess that's what happens when I don't type it in Word, then do a copy and paste. Live and learn, but still . . . grrrr.

I finished The Heartbreak Kid by Alison Kent, and I enjoyed it very much. The hero of this book is the brother of the hero in Call Me, which received a 4 out of 5. The Heartbreak Kid also receives a 4, though I liked it a bit better. One thing I like about Kent is that her adults act like adults--they think and talk things through when they need to.

This will probably be my last blog entry before I leave for Tampa. The end of packing is finally in sight, and tonight I received some last-minute FAQs from the event organizer. One answer explains the best time to bring your books to have them signed, especially if you have more than 10. Um, that would be me. I can't wait to see what kind of reaction I get when my book suitcase goes through security and the x-ray (or whatever) machine.

I made a scrapbook page for Suzanne Brockmann's guestbook; the tags hanging out of the envelope can be pulled out, and I wrote messages on them. I also had some pictures developed. Now you can see my poor rear-ended car and the rental I'm currently driving.

I expect to be back online next Tuesday or Wednesday, and I'm sure I'll have a lot to report. Until then, happy reading!

Alyssa