Cat Thursday-- September 28, 2017

Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s)

This week brings us 17 cat photos taken at the right moment from brightside.me. They're pretty hilarious. Here are 7. Go check out the others!

Cat Thursday--September 21, 2017

Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s)

This Cat Thursday brings us to Artsy.net with an editorial about the weird and wonderful world of pet portraits. Scott Indrisek introduces a few artists who commission pet portraits. Each artist is very unique. Click on the link to get the full rundown of each artist and their work. But I will post a few of my favorites!

Max Siebel, Henry, 2015. Courtesy of the artist.

Paul Miller, Rugby and Miles, 2017. Courtesy of the artist.  

Max Siebel, Steve, 2000. Courtesy of the artist.

Emma Stern, Mooshie Portrait, 2016. Courtesy of the artist. 

There are also some fun dog ones but since this is Cat Thursday...I chose not to feature them! Go check out the rest!

Horror Movie Wednesday--Dead Awake

I love horror movies! I watch a lot of them just for fun all year long. I even a horror-movie-night every week with a few friends. I thought it would be a good idea to write down a few thoughts about some of these horror movies I watch, all the good, bad, and in between. I'm not an expert or anything. Die-hard horror movie buffs will love quite a few that I'm not all that fond of....But I'll just throw a few thoughts out every week for fun and see what sticks!

Dead Awake (2016):

It was on Netflix and I needed a good scare...The story focuses on Kate Bowman who's twin sister Beth dies in her sleep after experiencing sleep paralysis. I guess sleep paralysis is contagious and soon Kate, her friends Evan and Linda are also experiencing it. An old hag is trying to suffocate them while they're sleeping. I guess she only exists in the sleep dimension...like Freddy Krueger? Maybe they take each other's shifts from time to time?

Interesting plot line but it wasn't executed very well. Acting was only so-so and the special effects for the Hag were trying to be creepy like the Ring girl but it ended up being more cheesy than scary.

But I don't expect a lot from cheesy Netflix horror movies.

*Also watched for:

Top Ten Books On My TBR Fall List

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I have a lot of horror to be read...but I will focus on after Halloween reading. I enjoy a good cozy mystery and memoirs as the weather gets colder and Halloween is in the rear view mirror! And maybe a quick non-fiction book as well to get the brain going.

1. A Hiss-tory of Magic by Harper Lin. I picked up a three-pack mystery for my Kindle a few months ago and Fall will be a perfect time to dive on in. It combines mystery and cats for a (I hope) perfect combination.

2. The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. I've heard good things and if I don't get to it in October this will be on top for November.

3. A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg. It's a short book and looks like it'll explain how CRISPR got started and where it could take us in the future.

4. The Rules Do Not Apply: A Memoir by Ariel Levy. I've heard this is a great memoir on grief.

5. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. I've been reading this one on and off this year and intend to finish it before the new year!

6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I read the abridged version when I was a teenager and have been wanting to read the unabridged version for years now. I'll do my best!

7. We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It's a new collection of his essays written while Obama was president. I'm excited to have more of his writing in my hands.

8. Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee. Looks like this will be a nice Fall read from the young adult historical fiction genre.

9. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. It's his new one and I read all of his books.

10. I'm not sure yet but I may reread Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights in December or maybe a Jane Austen....

Week-in-Review September 17, 2017

Nala gets snuggly when cold!

Some cool weather hit this week. Temps. have been in the mid 50s and low 60s. I've pulled out all of my warm sweatshirts. Most of my Halloween decor is out. Fall is in the air. Even my kitties have been extra snuggly, since I refuse to turn the heat on when I know in two days the AC will be back on! Even my husband put on an extra blanket last night due to the biting cold.

Before the race

I also participated in the Dirty Dash. An obstacle course with lots of mud pits and getting really dirty. It was my first time doing something like this and I actually had a lot of fun despite the bitter cold in the morning. We even splurged and bought warm showers to wash off all the goo at the end of the race!

After the race. We look so happy!

Books Finished: Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign by Jonathon Allen and Amie Parnes, Anything We Love Can Be Saved by Alice Walker, and White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

Currently Reading: It by Stephen King (I'm hoping to finish this

up next month--it's soooo long), Certain Dark Things by Silvia Garcia-Moreno, The Troop by Nick Cutter, and Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (reading this with my son aloud).

Listening To: I just started the new Audible edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker. I just started Larry Wilmore Black on the Air and Rough Translation. And I'd like to start Snap Judgment's Spooked this week as well.

Watching: I just finished up HBO's Insecure and Amazon's One Mississippi. I've started Game of Thrones but am still on season one....

Looking Forward To: So many things this time of year. I want to take my son hiking to see the beautiful fall color changes in the mountains. We are heading up to Oktoberfest in about an hour. And we are camping next weekend.

Making: I've been making coffee. I should be getting into the soups and ciders and cookies and breads soon....

Cat Thursday--September 14, 2017

Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s)

This Cat Thursday comes to you from Bored Panda where a Russian farmer found 4 kittens in his barn. But they didn't look like any kittens he had seen before. He took them the Daursky Nature Reserve where they confirmed the kittens were actually Pallas's cats or Manuls, a rare wild cat species native to central Asia.

One of the nursing cats at the reserve "agreed" to take care of the kittens and nurse them back to health. According to the article they are now thriving in their natural environment! Take a look at these cuties.

Horror Movie Wednesday-- It Comes at Night and It (TV and Movie)

I love horror movies! I watch a lot of them just for fun all year long. I even a horror-movie-night every week with a few friends. I thought it would be a good idea to write down a few thoughts about some of these horror movies I watch, all the good, bad, and in between. I'm not an expert or anything. Die-hard horror movie buffs will love quite a few that I'm not all that fond of....But I'll just throw a few thoughts out every week for fun and see what sticks!

It Comes at Night (2017):

The movie starts with us just getting a glimpse of this world...a sick elderly man, his family all around him with masks and gloves and plastic sheets hung everywhere.

Some global disease has sent this family into hiding in the woods...mother, father, and teenage son, and their dog Stanley. We don't know how long the disease has been global or how many people are left on earth.

Things go OK until someone breaks into their house in the middle of the night. The man says he's just looking for food and water for his family--wife and small son. They agree to bring them all back to the house. Things go well for awhile until the father catches the other man in a lie. Are they sick? What will each do to protect their own families?

This story is more of a psychological profile of what we do when we are scared and paranoid. Not your typical horror but great all the same.

It (1990):

This miniseries came out in 1990 on TV. I remember hearing about it but my parents never let me watch any of it. Good thing because it would've scared the deadlights out of me....

First part with the children was actually pretty good. It was genuinely unnerving and the kids had chemistry.

The second part with the adults was a little cheesy and the ending was even cheesier. I haven't finished up the book yet...I've got a little less than half to go. But I know the ending is pretty hard to film so I guess they did the best they could...but oh man it did kind of take the scary out of it all.

It (2017):

Not only was this scary it was also a great coming-of-age movie in the likes of Stand By Me (another King classic)! How these kids decide to defeat It is beyond me. I would have runaway from home and hole up in a ditch somewhere never to be heard from again. Skarsgaard was amazingly freaky and creepy as Pennywise. All of the kids were well-casted and had great chemistry together.

Well done, movie makers! Well done!

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

Goodreads summary:

Some secrets are better left buried; some secrets are so frightening they might make angels weep and the devil crow.

Thought provoking as well as intensely scary, White Crow unfolds in three voices. There's Rebecca, who has come to a small, seaside village to spend the summer, and there's Ferelith, who offers to show Rebecca the secrets of the town...but at a price. Finally, there's a priest whose descent into darkness illuminates the girls' frightening story. White Crow is as beautifully written as it is horrifically gripping.

It's a quick and thought-provoking read. It read more like a scary story by the camp fire or a fable. It's a world not truly apart of this one. The setting of Winterfold and the character Ferelith are just creepy.

Rebecca and her father don't belong.

The mad preacher and scientist from the late 1700s add to the forboding tale. It parallels along with Rebecca and Ferelith's tale.

I enjoyed the creepy experience and I liked the philosophical discussions. It was a fun and interesting read for Halloween time.

*read for

Top Ten Tuesday--Top 10 Books Since I Started Blogging

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

I've been going over my Goodread's list and trying to figure out my top 10 over the last 8 years. I started book blogging right after my son was born. It's been an extremely engaging and wonderful experience for me. I've met some great people through these blogging interwebs.

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I read this one in 2009 and reignited my love for all things fantasy and strong female characters.

2. Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey From Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd. I read this one in 2010 during my faith crisis and really impacted the way I saw the world. This one still stays with me wherever I go.

3. Looking For Alaska by John Green. I read this one in 2011 and I really connected with the characters and their discussions of death. Beautiful book.

4. Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne. Also a 2011 read. This book is the best for the lay-person trying to grasp evolution. Very simple and organized.

5. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. A 2013 read for me. It's a beautiful retelling of the seven swans. Gorgeous writing. I need to re-read this one soon.

6. Night Film by Marisha Pessl. 2013 read. This was a mystery unlike any I'd ever read before. It's one I continue to recommend.

7. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. I finally got around to reading this one in 2015 while I was living in Japan. I enjoy almost everything Roach writes and this was no different. Her visceral descriptions of human cadavers still stays with me. My brother recently passed away and this one got to me at the time.

8. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This was also a 2015 read while living in Japan. I actually listened to this one while walking around the streets of Hiroshima. His voice entranced me and this book is just a must-read for everyone.

9. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I read a lot of great books in 2015. A visceral description of what it's like to be Black in America.

10. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay. Best book of 2017 and one of my favorites. Gay tells it like it is. We journey with Gay on all of her ups and downs and it's a must-read.

I skipped a lot of favorites but overall these are the ones that hit home for me over the last 8 years.

Happy Caturday!

I have two very sweet and pretty kitties. So I thought I'd share a few photos of them this Saturday morning.

And yes, we did set up our Halloween decor already...I just couldn't help myself. Once September hits it has to come up!

Shadow and Nala sunbathing

Animals of Houston

So many animals were also affected by Hurricane Harvey. People Pets found some great animal rescue stories during the storm. I'll post a few of my faves but go check out the post for all of them!

This dog was found clinging to the rail. But they got to her!




This cooper hawk took refuge in this man's taxi to escape the hurricane winds. According to the New York Post the man Bruso nicknamed him "Sgt. Hurricane Harvey." The hawk even landed on Bruso's arm after he had put on a glove.

Bruso..."eventually handed the bird over to the Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Coalition of Houston. “It was a very cool experience,” Bruso told the Post. “I felt very honored that [the hawk] chose to hunker down with me — and was so well-behaved, better behaved than my cousins who come here and wreak havoc … It was a magical experience. This is a bird of prey, a natural-born killer in its normal environment. But this was not a normal situation.”

Here's How To Help according to People Pets:

• Best Friends Animal Society, the first animal rescue on the ground during Hurricane Katrina, has deployed its disaster response team to Texas to help rescue stranded animals, deliver supplies and transport displaced pets. You can donate to the disaster relief fund here. 
• The SPCA of Texas is working to evacuate pets out of the affected ares and is helping to provide resources on pet-friendly housing to those evacuating the Houston area. The SPCA of Texas is accepting donations here. 
• Austin Pets Alive! Is moving as many displaced animals as possible into its shelter and is working on adopting out the animals currently residing there, so it has more room for Harvey evacuees. The rescue is looking for financial donations and potential adopters, learn more here.
• American Humane is working to rescue animals from the flood waters, as well, and is also providing hundreds of pounds of pet food to pet owners and their animals currently displaced by Harvey. To support these efforts, click here.
• The Humane Society of the United States has several on-the-ground response teams rescuing animals and helping people with pets get to safety. It recently took the lead in organizing a flight of shelter dogs from Texas to New Jersey. Readers can donate towards the rescue effort by clicking here.