Another World

On days (weeks) like this, I need reminders that all the hard work will pay off. This quote gets me through it, because it applies to so much - the social change our world so desperately needs, my writing worlds, my personal life and my fight to stay strong and healthy.

Going to Las Vegas

My husband surprised me and our kids with plans for an impromptu jaunt to Las Vegas next week. It's the start of the kids' spring break, and he has to leave the second week of it for a business trip to Barcelona, so he wanted to make it up to us a little bit.

We aren't going crazy. We're only there for three nights, and our kids are 12 and 14 so it's definitely family-friendly. We have tickets to see Penn & Teller on Monday night, then on Tuesday, we're eating dinner at Gordon Ramsay's at the Paris (because it was absolutely divine when he took me there for my birthday last summer), then a hop down the strip to see Love at the Mirage. Good friends of ours saw it and LOVED it, and I do have to admit, it looks amazing:

Blogging might be spotty next week as a result, but we have internet at our hotel, so hopefully I'll be able to get something up.

Cloudburst

I love it when movies I never heard of get brought to my attention. Introducing Cloudburst...

It never got released in theaters, but it's available to rent on Amazon as well as being available on DVD.
The tagline is, "The best geriatric lesbian road movie you have ever seen. Thelma and Louise, eat your heart out."
How can you resist that?!?
Have a great weekend, everyone!

The (almost) arrival of Catching Fire

I'm a little excited. I got the shipping notification that my copy of Catching Fire had shipped from Amazon. Estimated delivery was tomorrow, but when I went and checked the tracking information, it's already at my post office, which means I'm getting it today, woo hoo!

Downside is that my daughter is currently away on a band trip until Saturday and I'd told her we'd watch it together. I'm going to bug her when she calls me tonight and see if I can get her not to whine if I watch it before she gets home. I have a feeling I won't win that. Sharing Hunger Games is kind of our thing.

But I loved this one. Better than the first movie, I thought, though in all fairness, they're vastly different in tone so it's hard to compare them.

40 Bags in...well, a lot of days

Yesterday on Facebook, someone pointed out a decluttering group that was about to start a challenge. It's called 40 Bags in 40 Days 2014 Decluttering Challenge, and the point is to break up your home into 40 different spots and take a day to declutter each one. The trick is to pick small spots so you don't get overwhelmed.

The challenge starts today, and I've decided that since I can't dedicate the next 40 days to it (we're gone for 4-5 days in two weeks), I'm just going to do it when I can. As close to that 40 as I can make it, but still, I'm being realistic about the whole thing.

The woman at the blog where I found it has two printable schedules you can download, one for the next 40 days and one with the date left blank, so you can get started. On my agenda today is my desk area.

Sad, isn't it? There are things in that cupboard over my desk that haven't been touched since we moved in over four years ago. The drawers at the side have become storage units for crap, and the top of my desk is pretty much everybody's favorite dumping ground when they're asked to clean off the table for dinner (which I am standing next to take this picture, so you can see how convenient it is). 
I've already got one room designated for garage sale stuff (I'm definitely having one this year, so I'm starting my organization early so I don't talk myself out of it again), and there's a local FB group I'm a part of that sells/gives away a lot of stuff, so I'll likely try that avenue as well. 
I'm not looking forward to the days I do shoes, purses, and jewelry. Those will be scary, scary days. The one thing that definitely won't be touched is my TBR books. Those are the most organized thing in my house, and there is no way I'm changing my system, lol. On the other hand, I might go through my keeper shelves. There might be some in there that I've changed my mind on.
Life is better without all the stuff we don't need bogging us down, right?

Update on my Reading Bingo Challenge

My reading challenge for 2014 is going pretty good so far. I tasked myself to read 52 books this year, one a week, which works well for me because that gives me a cushion if I end up having a string of DNFs. So far, I've read 13, eight (or nine, if I use my free space) of which I can mark off on my Reading Bingo Challenge.

The books/squares I can cross off:

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas – non-fiction

600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster – Number in the title

Origin by Jennifer Armentrout – one-word title

Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Kaje Harper – heard about online

Vertigo by M.L. Rhodes – non-human characters

Picture This by Michelle L. Levigne – female author

Best New Romantic Fantasy 2 edited by Paula Guran – short stories

Rose, Exposed by Afton Locke – second book in a series

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith –  free space

I wrote a review of A Three Dog Life after I read it, but the other real standout for me was Nor Iron Bars a Cage. I think Kaje is one of the most talented m/m authors publishing today, and this story is a long (over 100k), wonderful m/m high fantasy with some great world-building. Even better, it's a freebie so you have no excuses not to try it. She wrote it for a Goodreads giveaway, and it's stunning what she managed to accomplish in the short time she had to write it. Her prose is lyrical without losing accessibility, and the characters in this are three-dimensional and glorious. A real angsty, slow burn. Highly recommend.

Oscar watching

In anticipation of the Oscars yesterday, I spent Friday and Saturday catching up on movies I hadn't got to see before. Nebraska. Dallas Buyers Club. Blue Jasmine. Gravity. A few others, but these are the ones that were most important, for a lot of reasons.

Like...

I knew Gravity was going to win a lot of technical awards, and probably best director, and I wanted to know why and if they deserved it.
---Opinion: Yes.

Blanchett, McConaughey, and Leto were the leaders in their categories and again I wanted to see if the wins would be deserved.
---Opinion: Blanchett and Leto most definitely. Leto made me cry, and Blanchett was stunning. McConaughey was good, but not who I would've voted for in that category.

Nebraska is the kind of movie that I adore, and I wanted to get lost in the possibilities.
---Opinion: LOVED this movie so much. If I'd been given a vote, I would've thrown it at Bruce Dern without batting an eyelash. He's brilliant in this, and the film is so full of other greatness, that's saying a lot. In another year, I would've voted for June Squibb, too, because she was a joy (I still would give my vote to Jennifer Lawrence, because of how completely she stole every scene she was in).

I never did see 12 Years a Slave, so I can't comment on how I feel about those wins, though I wasn't surprised by them. And overall, the Oscars this year were both over and underwhelming--too long and not very funny, and yet quite accessible because of Ellen and the quirkiness of her hosting.

Other highlights:
---Bill Murray sneaking in his tribute to Harold Ramis.
---Pink's performance of Over the Rainbow. Stunning.
---Leto and Lupita's acceptance speeches.
---Darlene Love singing in the best documentary acceptance speech.