Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Back in town

I'm back from the road trip to North Dakota. We had a great time at the reunion. The cousin & wife (from hell) didn't make it so I was glad about that (although I'm sorry Bob didn't get to see his cousin... he's a nice guy but nobody missed the wife - she's a total nightmare). We followed Bob's dad home to Minot and spent a couple days with him. He had moved into a new retirement/assisted living home and he still had a bunch of boxes to unpack and nothing on the walls. So Bob and I got everything unpacked or stored away (not enough room) and put up lots of pictures and made it look nice and homey. It looked great. We also went with him to order the headstone. We gave our input on the design and I think it will look wonderful. This took a couple of days because Dad has a hard time making decisions. But he was glad we were there to help and I was very sad to say goodbye. I felt bad leaving him.

I received good news from the Washington State Employment Security department when I got back. I was approved by them to begin my training program through Bellevue College and I DON'T have to keep looking for work, and I still collect unemployment (about $530 a week). Plus the state is paying for the training (I just have to pay for books). Such a deal. I just wish I knew about this program 6 months ago, but ... oh, well. I started Summer Quarter with 2 online classes and took my computer along to ND to work on them. Classes are easy but there is a lot of homework. It's fun really.

I did some reading on the road but not as much as usual. Only three books :) Two of them were good, the third was so-so:

1) Dangerous Lies by Anna Louise Lucia - a romantic suspense in an unusual setting - North Africa (Morocco and Algeria). Action packed but I found some of the writing sort of awkward and had to reread passages occasionally. Grade B-

2) Shadow Dance by Anne Stuart - an historical that was recommended by CindyS (I think) and I loved it. Features two couples and was hot and sensual with some great subtle humor. Grade B+

3) The Major's Mistake by Andrea Pickens - a regency romance that starts out with a big misunderstanding and separation. I have no idea how it got into my TBR. It had a good storyline but NO sex scenes and you know how I hate that. Grade C+

I'm trying to keep ahead with these classes so I can take off this weekend with my old high school girl friends. We're having a little mini-reunion and I'm really looking forward to seeing them and reliving old times. We have a busy summer ahead of us with a camping trip planned and birthday party for my dad who turns 75. So I'm not gettting much reading done.

3 comments:

CindyS said...

Loved Shadow Dance although my bad memory remembers nothing else about it. Re-reads should be in the works but too many new books!

Glad you had a good trip and yay for going back to school. Have fun (how homework is fun is beyond me ;))

CindyS

Rosario said...

Welcome back! That's great news about starting school, I hope you enjoy it!

That's disappointing about Dangerous Lies... I think it got an A at AAR, so I was thinking of getting it. Unfortunately, there's no digital version that I can find, which is the only thing that annoys me about Medallion Press. So, would you say it's still worth getting, even with the awkward writing?

The Major's Mistake is in my TBR as well, I *think* also because of a review at AAR. Don't think I'll hurry to read it!

ReneeW said...

Cindy: I'm pretty sure you rec'd it but it's been quite a while and my memory is bad too. It's worth a re-read.

Rosario: I think the A grades at AAR for both those books was probably the reason I got them. Dangerous Lies is worth a read. Lucia is a new author (I think) and has potential. I did love the setting and it sort of has a lyrical/poetic feel to it (if that's the right word). Anyway it does have a "softness" to it that I liked - not just hard core action. And it is romantic. I'm not describing it very well but I think you will like it. I'm glad I read it and plan to search out the previous book and the next book (don't know the titles).

Wow, I haven't touched my blog in over 6 years and I'm still logged in!  Good thing because I have no idea what my password is.  In ...