Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night - Kresley Cole

It's Christmas.

So of course I chose to read a book

with the word winter

in it's title!

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

is the third book in the 

Immortals After Dark series.

After already meeting Bowen McReive

in past books,

we get to know him a little more here. 

Bowen is a heartbroken Lykae

who lost his mate over two centuries ago

and even after all this time, 

he stills feel guilty for

being what he beleives to be

the cause of her death.

Then there's the fiery, snarky

little witch names 

Mariketa.

Wicked Deed picks up

somewhere in the Hie

(last book).

Bowen wants desperately to win

so he can bring back his former mate.

In the process,

 he traps Mariketa and some others in a tomb.

But, we all know from the last book

that he looses

and gets stranded.

And so Wicked Deeds

continues from here. 

Bowen realises

that with each passing moment,

all he thinks about is the little witch

and comes to the conclusion

that she must have enchanted him.

Or she's the reincarnate of his beloved. 

But Bowen has trapped her

with the incubi and he must not only rescue her

but also convince her not to kill him.

That's always a great way to start an

immortal relationship! 

Bowen and Mari are fabulous.

They have a wonderfuk

love/hate relationship.

Writer's Workshop - Green and Red

Share a holiday inspired recipe.

I'm slightly cheating.

I'm not sure if this counts as a

holiday inspired recipe.

But we had a Christmas luncheon

today,

and we were asked to bring a green salad.

I thought that was fairly ordinary

and wanted to be a little creative.

So I made a baby spinach and strawberry salad.

Figured the green and red

made it festive.
I stole the recipe from
Ms Paula Dean.
You can find it here.
I didn't have enough strawberries,
so I threw in some blueberries.
And also added some feta.
Oh, and didn't have any cucumbers.
Otherwise,
it's the same recipe.

Scott couldn't understand
why I wouldn't do a simple
green salad.
But once he ate this,
he even had to admit
that I made a right choice!

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 42

Ethan hasn't spent time with my parents

since last Christmas.

My mum and dad came to visit us

in Lusaka for a couple of days.

He did see my mum in July,

when she came to babysit him for a few days.

I don't think I realised

how much he missed them

(or they him)

until we got together

 this past weekend.

My parents are in Toronto

and were suppose to head back to Dar

on the 18th.

But then they learnt

we would be there on the 18th,

so they changed the date of their flight.

We went to visit my parents

at their new place.

Ethan loved it.

(So did I.)

When they were in Dar,

my dad worked a lot,

so even when Ethan would visit

he didn't see much of my dad.

But here,

dad was home.

And Ethan loved it!

They played chess together.

My dad showed Ethan my baby pictures.

Ethan had my mom running wild.

They played hide-and-seek

all over the house. 

On Saturday,

we were getting together with some of my cousins

and their kids.

The original plan

was to meet and head on out.

But we spent the day at my folks.

The kids danced

and played

and ran around the house.

Gangnam Style

Opening presents

My parents loved it.

I'm not sure when they were in a houseful

of children.

They were grandparents

to everyone.

The sad part,

was saying bye.

But we hope

they will come visit us in Lusaka soon.

Happiness is spending time

with the grandparents.

Writer's Workshop - Santa

1.) Have you made a visit to the North Pole yet? Share your Santa pictures!

We went to see Santa today.

Yay!!

A couple of years ago,

Ethan kept telling us 

he wanted Rex from Toy Story

for Christmas.

Then we went to see Santa.

He asked Ethan what he wanted

and Ethan replied,

"Jessie from Toy Story."

WTF????

We had arranged a Rex from Dar

and now, 

on the 23rd of December

he decides he wants something else???

So, we were prepared this year.

Ethan's been tossing between 

two things to ask 

Santa.

We've got them both.

We were just hoping he said one of them

and didn't throw us a curve

and say something else.

He didn't.

Yay!

We love this Santa.

He's fabulous.

He could pass as the real one.

But not according to Ethan.

He keeps seeing Santas,

so does not beleive this is the real one.

But at least he still beleives.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 41

I've been in a bit of a slump this year.

I did not manage to get our

Christmas decorations up.

I've done a horrible job

with our Elf.

Christmas just seems to have

crept upon me.

But we're home now.

Yeah!!!!!

I came home today to find this,

Christmas gifts I've bought online.

I also found this

in that mess

A Christmas gift from Ethan's Seed.
My online baby group.

And I even got

a Christmas gift

to myself

from myself

courtesy of Ros.

Yes,

it is starting to feel

like Christmas.

Happiness is finally feeling that

Christmas is here.

Writer's Workshop - Dear Santa

3. Write a letter to Santa and let him know what you'd like to see 

under your tree this year.

Dear Santa,

This has been a busy year.

I cannot believe it's that time

of year again.

Time for you to realise

how hard I've worked,

and surprise me with all kinds of goodies.

Scott's been in Kitwe since August. 

We see each other,

every other weekend,

sometimes even longer.

I've been working hard

and have a fabulous class.

I'm now a single mom

(who does not date).

I've even begun my Master's.

I think I've been doing a great job

juggling

work, motherhood and studying.

To make your busy life

easier,

here are some items

I hope to find 

under the tree this year:

1) Peyton Tattersall File Bag

2) Wolf Gift

3) True Blood

Thank you Santa.

Spending the Holidays With PIWTPITT

I have been following Jen's

blog for about a year now.

I'll admit,

I became a fan of hers

with her famous

Elf post last year.

Scott's appalled 

by the name of her blog;

People I Want to Punch in the Throat.

But she's honest

and funny.

So she came out with this book

a couple of months ago.

In true Jen fashion

it's hilarious.

She chronicles some memorable

Christmas' of her past.

Jen says what most of us are thinking.

Or at least what I'm thinking.

So,

if you're travelling anywhere this Christmas

and are in need of an airport read,

here's one for you.

But be warned,

you may get strange looks from people

when you find yourself

LOL.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 40

Some mates of ours,

posted on Facebook

that they were taking their kids 

to see some lion cubs this past weekend.

I had seen some pictures

of other mates who had gone,

and thought Ethan would love to go.

So Sunday morning,

off we went in search of baby cubs.

This family had lions.

While it seems quite sad,

their idea is conservation.

The cubs are males,

and had to separated from the adult

male.

Like kittens,

they were very playful.

We did get to see the lions as well.

White lions.

Again, 

he looks a little sad here,

but when we arrived,

we saw the owner come out

and refer to him as 

"my baby" and he jumped on her.

The idea is to conserve lions

and keep them from being poached.

Is it right?

I don't know.

Ethics aside,

Ethan had a wonderful experience,

even if he did get nipped

by a cub.

Happiness is getting up close and personal

with a couple of baby cubs.

Writer's Workshop - Shopping

What was the last thing you bought?

The Grade 4 students

had their Holiday sale today.

They've just completed their

Unit of Inquiry

on supply and demand.

The students did some research

and were then asked 

to bake or make something

they could sell 

at the market.

I planned to support the 

Grade 4 students

by buying a cupcake,

or brownie

or something sweet.

I never imagined to come across these.

Earrings!

But not just earrings,

shoe earrings

and

handbag earrings.

Don't they just have my name on them?

And then, 

of course,

I couldn't decide which pair to wear

so I wore one of each!

WBC - Keeping Warm

So the weather outside is frightful. What are doing to enjoy being inside?

The weather here has been wonky.
It's the whole
"How do I dress?"
dilemma.
There are nights it rains,
so it's cool in the morning
and you need a jersey.
But then the sun comes out
and you find yourself
doing the perpetual strip tease.
Or,
it's really hot out
and you wear a cute dress
only to see the clouds come out
and it start to rain.
Then it rains all night
so it's cold
and you need to get right under
the covers.

I cannot wait for Christmas.
I cannot wait to go home.
I'm even excited about the cold and snow.

And when I get home
that first evening
and start to feel the cold,
so cold

my bones even feel cold.
Well then,
I know I need a good
old fashion cup
of hot chocolate.
With marshmallows!

Crushed - Dawn Rae Miller

You know you have a good book 

in your hands,

when you put off doing school work

and stay up all night to finish reading it.

I was first introduced to

books by Dawn Rae Miller

when I picked up Larkstorm

for free on Kindle.

I loved how she wrote her characters.

Even after reading the second book,

and her prequel

I find myself referring to them

as real people and not just characters in a book.

So when she got onto Facebook

and asked if anyone wanted an advanced copy of her newest book,

you know I couldn't refuse.

She sent me the book 

with a warning. 

This was no Larkstorm.

This is meant for a slightly more

mature audience.

One who won't cringe at the course language

or sexual exploits of her characters.

Crushed did not let me down.

And neither did Miller.

Once again,

she has created characters you love

and love to hate.

This time,

she's written the book 

from the POV of Fletch Colson.

A seventeen year old

man-whore who

goes to boarding school.

Fletch and his buddies 

collect panties.

And he loves it!

Fletch is back to school

for his senior year

and something's not right.

He hooked up with one of his female mates,

Calista,

over the summer

and she broke his heart.

Yup, he has a heart.

And the best way to get over one girl

is to get on top of another.

Fletch's mates tease him

that he can never be friends with a girl

and challenge him to be-freind 

beautiful, smart, and sexy

Ellie Jacobs.

At first,

when reading that this was a dare,

I began to have visions of

that Sarah Michelle Gellar movie with

Reese Witherspoon.

Yeah,

it's not that.

It's more.

Through this friendship,

Fletch learns about himself.

He learns about his family.

He learns who he is

and what he wants

and mostly,

what he does not want.

Miller does a fabulous job,

not just with her characters,

but with voice.

(Can you tell I'm teaching my kids

about voice?)

I forgot this was the same author

that wrote Larkstorm.

There was no comparison.

This is Crushed.

A story on its own.

A coming of age story.

Well, 

coming of age 

for a male-whore

and no pun intended!

Rapture - JR Ward

I bet you thought I'd stopped reading.

I know it's been awhile

since I've shared a book I've read.

It's not that I'm not reading.

I've started my Masters

(yay me!)

and have been busy with required

reading

that reading for pleasure

has fallen through the cracks.

But guess what?

Not only do I have another book

to tell you all about,

this is also the 50th book 

I've read this year.

Yippeeee!!!

I reached my goal of 50 books!!!

Rapture is book #4 in JR Ward's

Fallen Angel series.

Jim and Adrian are once again

up against Devina in round four

of the fight for good and evil. 

This time, 

the battle is a do-over

for Jim's former XOps boss,

and nemesis,

Matthias,

who was condemned to Hell

when Jim lost battle #2.

Mels Carmichael,

is our young love.

She's a reported for the Caldwell Newpaper

and is sucked into the battle 

when she accidentally hits Matthias with her car

outside the cemetery.

Matthias, 

having spent time in Hell,

is given a second chance,

and awakens in the cemetery

with no idea what's happened to him. 

Of course,

it is now up to Jim

to "save" Matthias.

From himself,

from the memories that are flooding back,

and from Devina

who has learnt that Jim has a weakness. 

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 39

Right before Halloween,

Tyler over at Afrikolor

had a pumpkin carving event.

Ethan loved carving his pumpkin.

He is very proud of the finished product

and has reminded me that we need to pull it out

every Halloween.

This past weekend,

Tyler was up to his magic once again.

This time it was ornament making.

The kids got to make 4 ornaments

and 2 angels.

Ethan chose his designs

and even the colours he wants them to be.

We should get them before we leave for Canada.

Ethan thinks they might make nice Christmas presents.

I think I want to keep them.

Tyler showing them how to use the stencil.

Pounding the clay.

Ethan's ornaments.

Making his angel. 

I can't wait until they are ready.

Happiness is making 

Christmas ornaments.

WBC - Favourite Book

December 4th - Talk about your favourite book. Why is it your favourite?

This is a hard one.

Do I have to choose just one?

I think I'm going to cheat

and have two books.

A children's book

and an adult one.

Now,

 many of you

are probably ready to stop reading

because you don't want to hear

about my vampire books.

So I'm going to let you know 

right now, 

this is not a vampire one.

Mainly because I'm not sure

I could narrow it down to just one.
(John Mathew)

Growing up,

I loved Anne of Green Gables.

I think Gilbert Blythe

was probably my first crush.

My bucket list

has going to PEI.

I love Anne's rebelliousness.

She has spunk.

She has attitude.

No one will step in her way.

Everyone should read this one.

Now, if you haven't read this next one,

you've probably seen the movie.

And if you haven't done either,

you're about to roll your eyes at me.

The Notebook

by Nicholas Sparks.

My mate introduced me

to Nicholas Sparks books

many years ago,

when The Notebook

first came out. 

I fell in love with the book.

It's one I read almost every year.

It doesn't hold the same magic

that it once did,

but I still love it.

And well,

Ryan Gossling

as Noah,

well,

what's not to love about that?

Winter Blog Challenge

Over the summer,

I came across a

Summer Blog Challenge.

I started off great

but didn't do too well.

Then there was the

Autumn Blog Challenge.

Once again,

I had good intentions,

but there were a lot of prompts

I couldn't answer

so I lost memento.

So that takes us to the

Winter Blog Challenge.

Let's hope I do better this time around.

December 1st - What is your favourite way to welcome in

the winter/holiday season?

Technically it's

summer/rainy season here.

And asides from welcoming 

the rain with a new pair of wellies,

I don't do much.

But the holiday season,

well I'm all about that.

This year will be our 3rd year

the Elf on the Shelf 

makes his appearance. 

Now,

I'm not one of those 

overachieving moms

who's elf plays tricks

for the entire month.

No,

our Jake shows up,

watches Ethan,

if he's had a good day,

he leaves Ethan a treat.

I have a lot of mates

whose children

are hitting the age where they

question whether Santa is real

or not.

Ethan's not there yet.

And honestly,

I love it.

I love the look on his face

when he sees Jake. 

I love how he chats with Jake.

Ethan even wonders

when Jake hasn't moved for a while

what's going on.

(A definite cue to Scott and I

to move Jake somewhere else.)

The holiday season

goes off with a great start

when Jake shows up.

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 38

It has been incredibly hot lately.

But then,

on Saturday,

the rainy season officially began.

Yes, I'm loving the rain.

It has cooled this place down.

A lot.

I sleep well at night.

I'm not uncomfortably hot.

I can enjoy my latte

without questioning why I have a hot drink.

And....

...well...

I get to wear my new Wellies!!!!

Happiness is a cute pair of 
Wellies.

Writer's Worksho - Thankful

We're going around the table and it's your turn to share

what you are thankful for....

A few of my mates on Facebook

have been participating in a month

of thankfulness.

I loved the idea

and seeing what they were thankful

for everyday.

I thought of participating,

but being Canadian,

our Thanksgiving was in October

so I didn't feel right about it.

But now,

well now I can share.

The last few months have been rough.

With Scott being in Kitwe,

I'm awfully lonely

and hate it.

And while I constantly 

moan and complain,

I'm thankful for a husband

who has put himself in an uncomfortable position

and never complains. He's doing what he

feels is best for his family, and 

no matter how much I whine and complain,

I know I have the better end of the bargain. 

I spent most of today

working on a paper for one

of my courses. 

It took longer than I thought

it would.

I promised Ethan this afternoon,

that we could watch a movie 

together tonight.

I am thankful for having completed my paper.

I am thankful for a son

who enjoys cuddling with me

on the sofa

while watching a Disney movie. 

When I was in Dar,

I had two great mates

that indulged me with Twilight.

We would go see the movie

and criticise and laugh.

Last year

I managed to find someone to go 

with.

She laughed along with me.

Then she moved to Kosovo!

But tomorrow,

yes,

tomorrow I have plans with some great

mates to see Twilight.

I am thankful

to have mates

willing to see Twilight with me

even though they know

I will laugh the whole way through. 

While studying today

I sooo needed a break

and treated myself to a 

mani/pedi.

I am thankful for

cute toes and fingernails. 

I hope everyone's having

a wonderful Thanksgiving.