My Hearts Brother

Ok - that title may sound a little weird to you. I usually hear people saying things like that more about the girls they are close to, but John and I have been best friends for 10 years now, and we decided a long time ago that we might as well be family. He finally got to the point where he just started introducing me to people as his sister...and I've decided to go with it and I introduce myself as his sister and tell people that Becca is my sister in law. We might not be legally related, but sometimes the family you chose is just as important, or even more important, than the family you are born with.

Why am I sharing all this today? Becca, my sister in law, is in the hospital. She's pregnant with twins. Their original due date was at the end of May. Because of complications they moved the due date up to May 10th and we're going to take the boys out c-section. Well, in her labs this week they found her liver counts were too high, so they called her to come back in. So they went back in the next day and when a new set of tests came back with even higher numbers, they admitted her.

As it stands right now she's in the hospital at least through Monday - but more likely for the rest of the pregnancy. They've also moved the due date up to two weeks from now, assuming her numbers don't continue to get worse, in which case they may have to take the boys out even earlier to save both Mommy and the babies.

So, as you may have imagined, I'm spending most of my time out at the hospital. I'm pretty tired, but that's to be expected! I'm really glad I can be there for them right now :)

Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara

"Cast in Silence" is the latest in the "The Chronicles of Elantra" by Michelle Sagara. In this book we learn more about Kaylin Neya's past. We already knew that she grew up in the fief of Nightshade, that she left there after a tragedy, and that eventually she found herself in the city proper working as one of the Hawks, protecting the people of Elantra. But what happened inbetween her time in Nightshade and becoming a Hawk? And just how did a girl from the fiefs end up a Hawk?

Nobody really knew what Kaylin had gone through during that period of her life because Kaylin had done everything she could to hide and forget that portion of her life. It may have been a short period of her life, but it was one that she did not remember fondly, and one that had forever changed her.

When Kaylin left Nightshade she found herself in the neighboring fief of Barren, and was quickly "adopted" by a gruff girl/woman named Morse. Morse taught her everything she knew, which meant a lot about theft, fighting, and how to kill with out flinching. Kaylin began to work for the Master of the Fief and quickly proved herself to be adept at carrying out his business.

The story of her past unfolds slowly, intertwined with the story of what's currently going on in Barren. The heart of the fiefs has become on unstable, and it is finding a way to let it's darkness out through Barren because it has the least strength of all the fiefs. Now Kayling must go back, face her old haunts and her old friend (and enemies) to discover why Barren is under going the changes it is. Along the way she'll have to admit to her friends her most closely guarded secrets, and learn to come to terms with her own past.

Aria's Quest - Questions from Eddie

Section 4

Searching for Molly

Part 7

Questions from Eddie

Aria continued to look around the room, soaking it all in, while Robyn explained the situation to Eddie. Technology was still very strange to Aria. Gina had explained computers too her, but what Gina and Darryl used was vastly different from the set up in this room. Robyn could have told her that was because their computer was older and rather basic, but she didn’t think to ask him. She was so busy looking around that she jumped into the air with a little flutter when Eddie turned and addressed her.

“What specific information can you give me? I need any names, addresses, things like that so I can track her easier.” Eddie said, fingers poised to type.

Aria started listing the information she knew. Joey had given her everything he could think of. She was a little skeptical that Eddie was going to be able to find out any more than Joey had, but she trusted Robyn, so she was trying to trust that Eddie would succeed.

As Aria read off the information Eddie’s fingers flew over the keyboard. She probably wouldn’t have believed he was even listening to her if he hadn’t occasionally asked her to clarify how a piece of information was relevant. Finally she ran out of information, and she just hovered over his shoulder, watching as he performed visual gymnastics with the computer screen.

Finally Eddie grunted, pressed one final key, and reached over to the machine that had just begun spewing out paper. “Ok, the last address you had wasn’t the last registered address for her. I was able to trace her through two more moves. Both addresses are on here so you can ask for information. The last job I was able to trace her too was working as a bar tender at ‘Velocity.’ It looks like she hasn’t been there in awhile though. She might have moved from there to something less legal. Try checking in with Anna to see if she can help you follow up on that lead. Oh, and I found a picture of her on Velocity’s web site.” He showed them a piece of paper with a picture of a young woman behind a bar. Her hair was pulled up into a messy knot on top of her head, dark, with bright purple streaks running through it. She had multiple piercings in her ears, and her wrists were covered in bracelets and her fingers in rings.

Aria was stunned. This was a very different picture of Molly than the one that Joey had showed her. Molly had always had a flair for the dramatic, but this seemed even more than that. The other thing that struck her was that Molly’s eyes looked so very sad.

Eddie helped them fold the pieces of paper up into tiny squares that Robyn was able to fit in his pack and the two of them took off again. Apparently Robyn knew who Anna was, and they headed out to the Nexus to talk to her.

Writing ADD #13

This is the best week I've had in writing all year long! Yippee!!! I wrote a total of 4,290 words this week, and my previous record for this year was 3,220. (Yes, I keep track of these things). I also broke 20,000 words this week! A land mark week all around :D Here's the summary:

Book Reports: 3

Letter's Home 2: In progress

My Dance with Words: Completed

Aria's Quest: 1 section

Geocaching 101: Completed

Movie Review: 1

The Artists: in progress

Total Words: 4290

Book Reports - didn't write as many as usual this week. Partially because my stack of books is getting lower so I don't feel the same urgency and partially because I had so many other writing things on my mind!

Letter's Home 2 - I'm about half way done with this letter. I was waiting to see if anything more happened in that "day's" worth of game play, and it did! Wait till you hear about our party :)

My Dance with Words - I actually wrote this about 3 months ago but never completed it. I keep a "Works in Progress" sheet in Word (although I keep a lot of other info in there as well) and I was perusing it one morning after I'd written my book review when nothing was jumping out at me to write. I realized I'd never finalized this - so I did that and it's been posted to my blog.

Aria's Quest - I have this week's segment written up - I just need to edit it and post it (tomorrow hopefully)

Geocaching 101 - I wrote this for my "Adventuring Elf Sisters" blog. I've only posted the first part though. More to come in the next few days!

Movie Review - I tend to post movie reviews as soon as I write them (instead of being behind like I am with books. I really enjoyed this movie - so writing the review was a lot of fun too!

The Artists - I sat down late one evening planning on writing the opening sketch before I went to sleep so I'd be ABLE to sleep. Two pages later... I'm not sure where I'm going with this story yet, but I'm having a lot of fun with just the beginning! I haven't gotten to work on it since that first evening, but I've been worrying ideas like pebbles over and over in my mind :)

*phew* And if you haven't understood before - now you know why I call this Writing Add! I tend to have a lot of ideas, and on a good week, I may end up writing about a LOT of different things! Just like on a good week I end up doing a bunch of different crafts :)

Dark Tide II - Ruin by Micael A Stackpole

"Dark Tide II - Ruin" continues the story of the New Jedi Order and is the sequel to "Dark Tide I - Onslaught." In these books a new threat is facing the galaxy, one that even the Jedi have troubles with, because they don't have a presence in the force.

I'm having a wee bit of troubles getting through these books because this threat, the Yuuzhan Vong, are not only a violent race, they thrive on pain. Their entire culture is centered around the self infliction of pain, because that is what makes them stronger. Yeah. Well, that doesn't exactly make for the most pleasant read.

On the other hand I'm already well accustomed to scanning through battle scenes (I'm just not a fight scene type girl when there is a lot of blood) so I simply scanned through those portions of the book as well. It meant I scanned larger portions of this book than I do most, but I did enjoy the sections in between with the Jedi, the former Rebels, and believe it or not, the remnants of the Empire!

That's right, the Vong are such a huge threat that everyone is banding together to fight them, even old enemies like the remnants of the Empire and the people who destroyed them. That makes for some interesting situations as I'm sure you can imagine! We also get to watch the Solo kids continue to grow and develop in this book, which I really enjoyed as well.

How to Train Your Dragon - Movie Review

Last night my brother and I went out and watched the movie "How to Train your Dragon" by Dream Works Animation. While the movie is available in 3D - we saw it in 2D - since it was cheaper and both of us are kinda worried the 3D would mess with some of our eye problems!

Before I talk about the movie, should tell you that it's based (like so many are) off of a book! I didn't realize this until we went to see it last night, so the first thing I did today when I sat down to write this review was to look up the book and the author.

Cressida Cowell is the author of the books about Hiccup the Viking, the first of which is called "The Seasick Viking." It's a picture book, the first book she wrote about Hiccup, and the one that inspired the "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III" series (of which "How to Train Your

Dragon is the first book.) I have "The Seasick Viking" on order from the local library, so look for the review coming soon!

"How to Train Your Dragon," the movie, is about a boy named Hiccup who just doesn't fit in. He lives in a colony of Vikings that seems rather normal at first glance, until you see the pests, ie, dragons! They have been there for 7 generations, but every house you see is new, because they are constantly battling to put out the fires the dragons are starting.

In a place like this the strong thrive, but Hiccup isn't really that strong, and he tends to mess things up. So when the dragons raid he gets pushed aside and told to stay out of the way. At the beginning of the movie we see a vivid example of just why this is.

Hiccup's Father, Stoic, doesn't know how to deal with the boy. But another viking convinces Stoic to let the boy start training to kill dragons with the other kids his age. At first Hiccup is miserable, and then he slowly begins to show a kill with dragons that shocks everyone else. How IS he doing it?

The answer is that one day Hiccup had wounded a dragon, and then instead of finishing it off, he made friends. This unique friendship will change his life forever. He learns many things that will shake the foundations of everything he knows about dragons, he finally gets noticed by the girl, and he makes his father proud. It's a cute movie full of dragon battle scenes and humor.

One thing I really enjoyed about the movie was listening to the voice of Stoick, Hiccup's father. The part of Stoick was read by Gerard Butler, a Scottish actor who's voice makes me melt! Any time I get to hear his beautiful voice is fun!

All in all, it's a great movie. There are so many more things I could say about it, but I want to let you discover it for yourself, and not give too much away!

March - An Up and Down Month

This last month was really an up and down one. I had some REALLY good days - and some REALLY bad days. Despite that, I think overall things have been looking up. I've worked through a lot of the emotional aftermath of losing my Granny (I still tear up though!) and I'm enjoying spring and looking forward to a summer full of possibility! Here's the wrap up for last month:

Personal:

If I Could Be:

Update on Me

Escaping Cabin Fever

Writing:

Writing ADD #8

Writing ADD #9

Aria's Quest - Getting Help

Writing ADD #10

Writing ADD #11

Writing ADD #12

Aria's Quest - New Way to Search

My Dance With Words

Book Reviews:

Vale of the Vole by Piers Anthony

Ever by Gail Carson Levine

Have you Ever Done That? by Julie Larios

Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs

Missing Sisters by Gregory Maguire

Spirit Gate by Kate Elliot