5 minutes… here’s a song for you!!

It’s been forever since I’ve listened to BOYS LIKE GIRLS…. but I remembered this song for you ;)

Brown eyes and lungs are filled up with smoke
Fast lives are stuck in the undertow
But you know the places I wanna go
Cause oh oh oh
I've got a sickness, you've got the cure
You've got the spark I've been lookin' for
And I've got a plan, we walk out the door
You know you wanna
Just let go
It's time to roll down the windows
Sing it oh oh
Got all we need so here we go
Turn it up
It's five minutes to midnight
You're coming home with me tonight
I can't get enough
Shakin' me up
Turn it up
Alright, at five minutes to midnight
We'll see our name in city lights
We'll make the clock stop
Make your heart drop and come alive
We could
Pack up and leave all our things behind
No fact or fiction or storyline
Cause I need you more than just for tonight
You're oh oh oh like air
I can't stop my breathing in
I'm weak and you were my medicine
I won't stop till I am under your skin
You know you wanna
Just let go
It's time to roll down the windows
Sing it oh oh
Got all we need so here we go
Turn it up
It's five minutes to midnight
You're coming home with me tonight
I can't get enough
Shakin' me up
Turn it up
Alright, at five minutes to midnight
We'll see our name in city lights
We'll make the clock stop
Make your heart drop and come alive
And when the clock strikes twelve
Will you find another boy to go and kiss and tell?
Cause you know I never will
I think we should strike a match
We'll hold it to the wind to and see how long it lasts
We can make the time stand still
Turn it up
It's five minutes to midnight
You're coming home with me tonight
I can't get enough
Shakin' me up
Turn it up
Alright, at five minutes to midnight
We'll see our name in city lights
We'll make the clock stop
Make your heart drop and come alive
Turn it up
It's five minutes to midnight
You're coming home with me tonight
I can't get enough
Shakin' me up
Turn it up
Alright, at five minutes to midnight
We'll see our name in city lights
We'll make the clock stop
Make your heart drop and come alive

Review: Lucifer Rising

Lucifer Rising by Barbara Fifield
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 1/5

Summary (from goodreads): Can Elsa ever escape cult leader Tyrell, a reincarnation of the devil? What about him does she find so mesmerizing? Tyrell has lured women into his snare over many reincarnations. Will he succeed with Elsa? Or will she be able to break away from him?

When I accepted this book for review, the summary provided sounded very exciting and engaging… but this book was strange. That’s really the only word I have for it. Weird and strange. Here’s why:

One—I felt out of place while I read this. I felt like I had been dumped into the middle of a book on the first page. There was no introduction to the characters, there were no descriptions, there was no explanation. And it didn’t work. Sometimes in a book, that’s ok, because it works with the mysterious quality of it, but in this situation it was just unreadable.

Two—The writing wasn’t good. It felt choppy and vague and un-detailed and empty, as if the words on the page didn’t mean anything. It was very hard to read. The dialogue felt forced and most of the narrative was unclear.

Three—I have a high tolerance for strange and supernatural, but the stuff in this book was just really odd. I didn’t get past Chapter 3.

I’m really sad that I didn’t like this title because I was so excited to read it, and it sounded great… but it was just a really lame book.

~Haleyknitz

It makes perfect sense to me :)

It might look like a mess to you…

 

 

but it makes perfect sense to me :)

 

~Haleyknitz

10-book giveaway!

Susan has just started her blog and is having a grand-opening giveaway of ten books. Winner takes all!

Angels by Marian Keyes
The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
Angels Fall by Nora Roberts
Engaging Men by Lynda Curnyn
Cloud Chamber by Michael Dorris
I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson
To Cut a Long Story Short by Jeffrey Archer
Star Craving Mad by Elise Abrams
Little Children by Tom Perrotta
Late Night Talking by Leslie Schnur

go here! http://alltheprettypages.blogspot.com/2009/12/grand-opening-giveaway-10-books.html

~H

I like my new camera

 

Begin Randomness:

This is a cool picture. Because you can see my hand in the reflection :D

The little device is something that I got at Target today for 50% off. It’s an alarm clock/radio/mp3 speaker thingie. And the mp3 player is a Zune.

Zune sucks. Don’t get a Zune. I don’t want to bother reviewing… but seriously it’s not worth it.

but the picture is cool. The camera is cool, too ;D

End Randomness.

~H

*grin*

Look at my address bar! There’s something special there ;)

How did I do that?

click here for the tutorial by The Neverending bookshelf (whose blog I adore).

~H

Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge

I get exhausted from paranormal stuff sometimes… So this challenge looks perfect for me :D

Here is the post borrowed from Pearl’s World of Romance, where you can sign up.

 

Before I list the details, I do want to make one thing clear: by contemporary romance I mean straight contemporary, so without paranormal, fantasy or time-travel elements… (i.e. Harlequin Blaze, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin Super Romances, Silhoutte Desires, etc.)

Details:
1. Read at least 10 contemporaries between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010

2. You don't have to pre-select your books, you can just add them as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed. Nothing is set in stone! Also, the books you choose can crossover into or from other challenges you are participating in.

3. Feel free to grab the button below for the sidebar of your blog. It would be great if you would link it back to this post so others can find their way back to this post and join the challenge.

4. If you decide to join this challenge be sure to create a post telling others and feel free to add a link back to this post so others can join in the fun.

5. I will be creating review posts where you can link your own reviews, but reviews are optional.

 

So this will be fun :D

 

1. Love you to Death
2. The Heights
3. The Last Song

~Haleyknitz

New years Resolutions

Ok so it’s December 30th… (wow that came fast!!) Here are my resolutions for 2010:

 

1. STOP. BITING. NAILS. I’ve quit plenty of times. It takes weeks. It also takes about three seconds to destroy weeks of work.
2. Lose the weight I gained over Christmas (yes there is actually some extra luggage on this dancer.)
3. Read more books (hah)
4. keep the room clean(er)
5. get all my Christmas presents knit by August so that I can enjoy the season next year instead of knitting like a maniac
6. Comment more. I have a kind of policy with myself: If I read a post completely through, I post a comment. I haven’t been keeping up with that and I hope to change that! Comments on my blog make my day. I’m assuming it’s the same with everyone else!

So… what are your resolutions?

Review: The Red RED Car

The Red RED Car by Manjula Naraynan

Genre: Children’s Literature and fiction

Rating: 4/5

The red RED car is not just called red because of the color of his paint—he’s red with anger. He never follows the rules and always does what he wants. That gets him into trouble one day when he tries to be in a race. The red RED car gets hurt and goes to the hospital, and decides that he needs to change, and he works hard on controlling his anger. Then once he masters his anger, he wins every race.

The message in The Red RED Car was clear and very important for kids—anger is hurtful to others as well as to you.

I thought The Red RED car was really cute and showed anger for what it was: ugly and scary. The illustrations were very colorful and energetic, perfect for the book.

The only part I didn’t like was the fact that when the car got hurt he “heard voices”  (his own voice in his head telling him it was his own fault that he lost) and fell unconscious, and that seems just a little odd for a children’s book.

Recommendation: Ages 4-8

~Haleyknitz

Review: The Mudhogs

The Mudhogs, written and Illustrated by Dalton James

Genre: Children’s literature, picture books

Rating: 5/5

In the story of The Mudhogs, the three pigs named Piggy, Piggles, and Piglet love mud. They want to play in the mud but there isn’t any in the barn that they live in. So they travel the world looking for mud… and when they get home they learn an important lesson.

This is a really cute book that all kids will love. It’s easy to understand and is written by a kid for a kid. The illustrations are adorable and the story is funny and cute. It is short and sweet and the lesson remains something that children and adults all need to remember.

Recommended for ages 3-10.

About the Author:

Dalton James is a bright and imaginative eight-year old who enjoys reading and writing books. This is Dalton’s third book that he as written and illustrated. He continues to make his parents and teachers very proud of his accomplishments.

Dalton’s other books are: The Sneakiest Pirates, and The Heroes of Googley Woogley. Books can be purchased here.

 

 

 

~Haleyknitz

Food for thought

Last fall, I was at my community college for school. I was taking a piano course and had gone into an extra classroom to practice. I’d left my purse there by accident.

I went to class and grabbed for my purse and it wasn’t there. I got up hurridly and began to search the classrooms, eventually going back to the room I had been practicing in. The door was locked and my purse was gone.

It isn’t a hard purse to miss. It’s neon green. My Aunt gave it to me for my birthday (or Christmas?) one year, and it was one of my favorites. It had my driver’s permit, my money (all $40 of it), my cell phone, and my social security number.

I was very freaked out and almost in tears. I’m assuming you would be too. I searched the building again for people, but it was empty. It was the dead part of the day at the campus. I left the building and began the long walk back to the student center where I called the security guard.

While I was walking, I got my head back on straight. I prayed and told God that whatever happened was His will and I’m sorry for freaking out and that I knew I’d be ok because He would take care of me but please please please let me find the purse.

After I asked the security guard at the lost and found (he didn’t have it) I started on my way back to the building I had been in, because my daddy was going to pick me up there. I was supposed to call him but I didn’t have a phone. I figured I’d just wait until he showed up.

Well he did show up because he did get a call. A lady who was a customer at our store and a teacher for the school had found the purse and put it in her office. She’d found the phone and called my dad and said she’d found my purse. She hadn’t been able to find me, though, because I was searching the building madly and trying not to worry too much about my identity being stolen by some freak.

When daddy told me the whole story I relaxed and went to get my purse. She smiled and I thanked her for taking it.

When I got home, I thought for a while. What really mattered in the whole situation, and what did I learn? What really mattered was my heart. I learned that my reactions need to be different. Yes after a while I got my head back on straight and trusted God, but that wasn’t the initial reaction. I learned that my trust isn’t wholly in God and it needs to be. God looks at the heart more than our actions. Where was my heart when I freaked out? Where was my faith and my trust? It was in me, and my own ability to keep good track of my things. That was wrong.

I bring this up because we talked about these kinds of situations in our morning Bible study at home. We had some good discussions. We always do, with six people who are both Christians and sinners (and a brother who thinks too hard about everything ;D). But this one struck me as special.

And along the same lines, on Monday night my daddy got in a car wreck. It wasn’t serious, nobody was hurt, and the car won’t be too expensive to fix. But it was like a wake-up call. It was like God was saying “Hey, I hope you realize I can take everything away from you at the drop of a hat.” and we were saying “Oh yeah, You’re right. Thanks for not doing that.” Where was my trust when mommy left the house? This time it was in God. I knew God would take care of us and him. I wasn’t panicked at all.

Trials don’t come slowly. They come quickly and unexpected. So when you’re in a trial, where is your hope? Who do you trust to take care of you? What does your reaction say about that?

Just thought I’d share.

~H

Review: Nine Dragons

Nine Dragons (Audio) by Michael Connelly, read by Len Cariou

Genre: Crime thriller

Rating: 4/5

From Goodreads: LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.

Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store's owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li's family that he'll find the killer.

 
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation--not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li's life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.

And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch's life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he's lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city's Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad's ferocity.

 

I was so excited to read Nine Dragons, because I love a good crime thriller and had read such good reviews for it. It didn’t disappoint. I was drawn into Harry Bosch’s world and mind right away. The plot keeps you guessing and sitting on the edge of your seat. The dialogue is lively and funny, the writing was good, and the reader was excellent in narration, voices of the characters, and speed at which he read. This is not a title to be missed.

Nine Dragons is book 14 in the Harry Bosch series, but it makes an excellent stand-alone. Only occasionally did I feel “left out of the loop” so to speak. Everything that was necessary to understand the book was explained.

Content: A reader should go into a crime thriller expecting some language. There was some language in the book but it wasn’t too overused. As far as gruesome details, it wasn’t hard to read. I wouldn’t let a kid read it, though.

Recommendation: Ages 16+

~Haleyknitz

Won books reading Challenge

This challenge is exactly what I need! I’ve won so many books… and read almost none of them!

this challenge is hosted at So many precious books, so little time. Head on over there to sign up!

Levels:

Honorable Mention: Read 1-3 book you won.

Bronze: Read 4-6 books you won.

Silver: Read 7-9 Books you won.

Gold: Read 10 or more books you won.

The Rules:

1. You must write a review for each book that you read for it to count.  If you do not have a blog you can write your reviews on a place like Amazon, Powell's, Chapters, etc.
2. Crossovers with other challenges are okay.
3. Audiobooks count, as long as you won them.  As do won e-books.
4. You can change up levels but cannot go back down a level.  
5. Make a list of the books won that you plan to read for the challenge.  You can always make changes to the list.

I might change this list… we’ll se ;)

1.  Magic Under Glass
2. The Agency—a spy in the house
3. Storm Glass
4. The Historian
5. The Bible Salesman
6. The Heretic’s Daughter
7. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre
8. Coffeehouse Angel
9. Shiver
10. The Smart one and the pretty one

 

 

~Haleyknitz

Contest: Stitch Style Mittens

Contest is now closed.

I have decided to do something kind of special: I’m giving away a pair of hand-knit mittens or gloves! This contest will be international (because I love you guys so much I’m willing to spend a fortune on yarn, needles, and shipping ;D). I’m using this book to pick the pattern:

which is a fantastic book that I got from Martingale &Company. I’m posting the photos of the pattern the winner will get to pick from. When I end the contest I will post a review on the book.

Here are your choices: White and red bow (mittens), Fair Isle (fingerless gloves), Polka-dots (mittens), Ribbon Wrist (fingerless mitts), and Sequins (mittens).

 

Contest will run December 29-January 10. Winners will be picked morning of January 11th.

Rules: International, must be a follower, leave a comment. All entries will be in one comment! You don’t have to leave an e-mail address, but make sure you check back to see if you won!

Entries:
+3 old follower
+1 new follower
+1 every link you post
+3 leave a comment and fill out her poll on the sidebar for Hannah at Hannah’s Magic Pencil
+5 blog post about this contest
+5 my button on your blog
+5 if you participate in my other contests (5 points for each other contest you enter. See the sticky post on the top of the blog for the links!)

Hey boys! You can enter too! I know the mittens look kind of girly, but if a boy wins I can take off the ribbon/sequins/decor and “man” the mittens up a little bit (because I’m just so cool like that.) Or you can give them to your girlfriend or sister or mom. Because you’re just so nice like that.

Good luck to all of you!

~Haleyknitz

Review: One Scream Away

One Scream Away by Kate Brady

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Crime Thriller, Murder

Rating: 4/5

 

Seven years ago, Chevy Bankes did something horrific to Beth. She’s been living with her ghosts ever since then. Beth has learned to live on her own and has raised her daughter by herself. But she isn’t prepared to face Bankes when she finds out that he’s been released from prison, and that now he’s after her. Neil, an ex-FBI agent, has somehow gotten himself roped into the case. Now it’s causing him to have to dig up his own ghosts and face them, too. Can two people who lost love earlier in their lives learn to love each other, can Beth keep her daughter out of Bankes’ hands, and can Neil save the woman he loves from her worst nightmare?

One Scream Away was one of those books that you stay up late reading and that you can’t put down, and that you yell at whoever interrupts you because it was so addicting good. It was exciting, suspenseful, romantic, mysterious… everything a book should be.

Without giving away anything, there were many parts in this book that I felt my heart rip when I read what happened. The characters were tangible, like I could pluck them out of the book and set them on my table and watch the rest of the story play out. But they were also relatable, so most of the time I felt like the characters themselves.

Pacing and plot were fantastic in this one. It was impossible to see what would happen next, and Kate Brady keeps you guessing until the very last page, and surprises you at the end.

The writing was not the strongest point. It wasn’t bad per se, it just wasn’t very good either. Acceptably mediocre is the best phrase I can think of, because it wasn’t Dante, but it wasn’t hard to read.

My only other complaint was that a lot of the times, Brady describes what things look like, but not what things feel like. Although the characters were very relatable, I found my own imagination supplying the feelings of the characters while I read this.

Content: There was no elicit sex in this book, although scenes are mentioned and skipped over. There was a lot of language (hey, we’re talking about FBI agents and Police officers and Serial Killers here.) and some rather vulgar details. Murder is not exactly pleasant. Although it wasn’t mapped out in extreme detail, the images left in the reader’s mind are ones that are not for the faint of heart. Or stomach.

Recommendation: Ages 18+

 

~Haleyknitz

Winners of David Sedaris audio book!!!

The winners are…

 

A Real Librarian

Debb

J.T. Oldfield

 

Congrats, guys!! E-mail me at haleymathiot@yahoo.com by Thursday morning with your mailing address so I can forward it to Anna. If you don’t e-mail me by Thursday, I’ll pick a new winner.

~Haleyknitz

Win a signed copy of Rising Shadow!

Miss Lindsay over at Crazy Books and Reviews has an author interview and a giveaway for a signed copy of Rising Shadow. Head on over there and enter! You won’t want to miss this book!!

~H

my blog looks pretty now :)

I updated my layout!! It took all morning, but I did it. Hopefully it’ll give me less fits than the other ones. The only downside is I have a shorter navigation bar… trying to see what I can do about that….

With that in mind, check my blog list on the sidebar. If you don’t see your blog and you want it listed, leave a comment with the url and I’ll add it.

And! Guess what book I got from Waldenbooks for 30% off…

Fallen…

:D excited!!

 

Here’s an awesome video for you that my wonderful bestest friend showed me :D

 

 

just to make your day a little more exciting

~H

btw does anyone have a pair of US size 5 dpn they’d be willing to swap?

Well that was fun :D

Warning, Warning, anti-book post!

So Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Christmas is always fun (see my post about why I love it soooooo much) but I had a great time this year. Here’s a few pictures and such.

 

I made a Beautiful cake for our Christmas get together at church on Wednesday, it was the nativity scene on chocolate cake. I love making cakes, but my favorite part is decorating them. This cake was cute, but it tasted soooo good! I always put a packet of instant pudding in with the mix and it makes it light and fluffy but dense and delicious at the same time. I made the frosting out of whipped cream cheese and black cocoa from King Arthur's Flour. Best. Cocoa. Ever.

I also made a  FANTASTIC cake for our party, it was shaped like a snowflake (we have a special pan) and I went to town on the decorations. I don’t have any special tools, either. This is home made butter frosting squeezed out of a plastic Ziploc bag!

We had our annual Christmas Eve party, at which mom broke out the eggnog. The kid’s batch and the Adults batch (adults has alcohol) lasted longer than I expected this time, and we had some leftovers for Christmas day and the day after. That was nice. I played Oh Holy Night on the piano (twice, at the request of Miss Pam), both times I messed up horribly. But I played great the day after! Such is the life and lies of an inanimate flying object, yes?

For Christmas you probably think that my list was filled with books, books, and books. Well it actually wasn’t, because I have enough books (see my tbr list at the bottom ;D) .  All I wanted was a digital camera (because I’ve been using the cell phone. Hence the craptastic photos I’ve been sharing with you.) and I just mentioned it once or twice. I kind of forgot to make a wish list this year. I was very focused on one thing: finishing mom and dad’s gift. I was so focused I almost forgot to go shopping for the girls!

I’d started this quilt for them in July, for their 23 wedding Anniversary and it was all done except the back. I’d run out of cash and couldn't buy any more fabric for the back, so I’d decided that we’d give it to them for their birthdays (which three days apart, with mine directly in the middle) but I never got around to it. So… Hannah and I stayed up on Christmas Eve until 2:30 in the morning hand-sewing and quilting this baby. It ended up beautiful, and mom and dad loved it. Every one of us kids (there’s four of us) designed a quilt square, even my 12 year old brother, and I sewed them together and embroidered our names on the squares. the rest of the squares were traditional patterns made with contemporary fabrics. It’s so colorful!!!

Every year we have a tradition: we get Christmas Pajamas on Christmas Eve. This year mom made us match. It’s the first time she did that. She picked flannel (my favorite fabric) nightgowns (my favorite type) that look like Laura Ingalls style (My favorite style) and the boys got matching colors. We put the things on and they were so warm! Hannah, my sister, came out and said “We match! we look like curtains, but we match!”

The boys tried the same stunt. It didn’t work.

Then we tried to get a good family picture for the next fifteen minutes while dad tried to figure out how to get the timer on the camera to work and get Ethan to make a real smile instead of some stupid facial expression. It took a while. I don’t think we ended up with a good one, just acceptable ones.

Ethan Claims he can’t smile. Liar.

Here’s me and my sisters. Yup. That’s us.

our tree on Christmas morning!

For Christmas I got a green sweater (favorite color!) and an orange one with a black shirt (because I’m going to CU next year), lots of chocolate (yessss!) a target gift card, Nutcracker body wash from Bath&Body works, a craft book about Embellishments, a new nutcracker for my collection, a few other various things, and my camera :D

The one I got is the Jack Sparrow one, 6th one from the left. Some of those on the mantel are mine, some are moms. But most are mine. You can click on the picture for a better view ;)

Then that night our extended family came up: My brother and his dad. They’re not actually related but we pretend we are. Because we’re cool like that.

Ian is hiding behind the singing snowmen. (Don’t ask me why.)

not sure what I was laughing at there.

 

who knows what he was excited about. He had a sugar high.

searching for a song on his phone.

one of those awkward pictures where you aren’t prepared for the camera and you can’t remember what you were talking about at the time.

We hung out Christmas night and the day after, saw Sherlock Holmes (That movie was awesome!!!! If you haven’t seen it, go!), shot off home made rockets, played music on his guitar until 1:30 in the morning, and had some great laughs. As you can see below, Carly is cracking up.

So we had fun. Now I’m feeling the after Christmas crash. Maybe I could read for a while, considering my TBR list… or knit.

this is my “don’t mess with me” look.

oy.

Anyway.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!!

~H