Hauling Sunday CXXIII

Hi everyone :)

How are you doing? Hope everything's good with everyone :) I'm doing better, on the mend. I had an ultrasound last Tuesday and a follow-up appointment on Wednesday at which time, they removed the drain! Yay!! So I've been taking it easy... and tomorrow, I'll be back to work. Moment of truth I guess LOL. Luckily, my job is flexible, so I'm still planning to take things easy :) The real test I think is going to drive to work... One of the bridges - of course, it has to be the one that I take - is having some issues and two lanes are closed ^_^; Really not a good news, sigh. So we'll see how traffic is going to be, but not looking forward to that :(

In the meantime, I've been reading some new releases and re-reading some old favorites :) I've also taken up crochet :P My sister was looking at video tutorials to make an infinity scarf and I got sucked in. I'm doing a test run and hopefully, it'll turn out good :) Then, I'll buy nicer and bulkier yarn... At least, that's the plan.

Now, look at my new precious!! Luckily, November was a good release month because that got me through :)

What do you think? And what good books did you read lately?!

Still here... recovering

Hi guys.

How are you doing? Hope things are going better for you than me :) Sigh, I'm just so ready for 2013 to be over ^_^; Anyway, I thought I'd write a post to let you guys know I'm still here. Sooo what happened is that last week, I started having abdominal pain again. Not going into a lot of details, I did end up getting my appendectomy on Wednesday; however, there were some complications. Got an abscess - not sure if it's from the wait since my appendix was already ruptured or the surgery - and also, wasn't able to pass gas or have a bowel movement... So I ended up staying in the hospital a few extra days. I finally got discharged on Tuesday, but still have the draining bag attached to the abscess. Then again, at that point, all I cared was going home.

Now that I'm home, I'm trying to take it easy. I'm not in too much pain, so that's good :) Still a bit paranoid and worried... then, who wouldn't be with a draining bag ^_^; Obviously, curling is out for now LOL. A pity. At least, I'm reading now which is good :) And hopefully, my blogging muse will come back to me so my blogging finally picks up :)

What about you? How have you been doing?

Hauling Sunday CXXII

Hey everyone :)

So how was your week? And your week-end?

My week was okay, nothing really special happened. I played curling on Thursday and Friday... but on my way to the curling club on Friday evening, there were two spots - one on my back and one near my armpit - that kind of hurt. And after my game, I felt pretty crappy. Hopefully, I didn't push too hard ^_^; I'm kind of concerned I might get a new shingles rash, although it wouldn't make sense given I'm done with the antiviral treatment. Also hoping it's not a complication of shingles. However, it hasn't hurt yesterday and today, so I'll take that as a good sign.

There were a lot of books out on last Tuesday :) Here is what I got:

These were all pre-orders. There's quite a few more books that I want and they should be on their way, coming this week :) Can't wait!

What about you? What did you get? By the way, Ames, Monroe and I have our new releases post up over at Breezing Through! Take a look at it here :)

Ames' visit 2013

First thing first,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Look what the skeleton fished up LOL.

Any plans for tonight? Or for Halloween in general? If everything goes well, I'm going to be curling! Yay!

Still no review; however, here are some pictures from Ames' visit. I wanted to have them up earlier, but alas... It seems that Ames and I are jinxed LOL. Whenever she plans to come visit, there's always something that happens. Last time was a fall resulting in an injured elbow, this time, my ruptured appendix... I'm glad though Ames elected to still come and even more glad that I was in shape to welcome her :) Still, we had to change our plans a little. Initially, the plan was to spend the long week-end in NYC. Visit Hilcia, Christine and Mariana, catch some shows and do a lot of shopping... And at first, I still wanted to make the trip. We were all looking forward to it sooo much and I was feeling okay... but in the end, good sense prevailed LOL. It just didn't make sense to leave a country where I had access to free healthcare to visit one where I wouldn't ^_^; Add in the shutdown... and in the end, we decided to go to Quebec City instead. It was good because I got to visit my uncle, aunt and cousin :)

Here are some pictures of Old Quebec. It's quite a nice city :)

Ames, my sister, my cousin and me goofing around :) LOL, my cousin was all gung-ho getting on the cannon, but getting down was another story...

We also used this opportunity to celebrate my sister's birthday :) I was feeling bad that I wasn't able to do anything for her on the actual date, so this was my chance to make it up for her.  It was kind of a surprise for her and she ended up baking her own birthday cake, but it turned out good.

We spent the long week-end in Quebec City and I had taken a few extra days off. On our return, we had poutines :) You cannot come to Quebec province and not have poutine LOL. Ames had the original, I added merguez sausages to mine and my sister had the Elvis if I remember correctly, which includes ground beef, green peppers and mushrooms :) After our meal, we decided to stop by Mount Royal to take a look at it in fall with all the colorful leaves :)

Our main goal of the day though was the Chihuly exhibit at the museum. It's funny because Ames and I had actually seen some of his work together on our trip to Holly's wedding... We had visited the Bellagio hotel and in the lobby, if you look up at the ceiling, that's Chihuly :) Anyway, I have heard a lot about this exhibit and thought Ames' visit was the perfect occasion to go see it :) It was really pretty! By the way, those boats are real-size... LOL, I had seen pictures from friends and thought they were table centers, but nope, a lot bigger!

One other activity we did was to go the Montreal's Botanical Garden. Every fall, they have a Chinese lanterns festival. I've never been, but sounded like a good activity to do with Ames again :) Unfortunately, we missed the International Mosaicultures exhibition - sculptures done with plants, flowers and trees - but were able to catch some remains LOL. Next time, I'll definitively have to check it out.

After the botanical garden, we picked up my friend V and had supper at P.F. Changs. I didn't know we had one in Montreal, but it works out great because a stop at P.F. Changs was on our schedule for our NYC trip :P Ames had their lettuce rolls a few years back while she was visiting Monroe and has been praising them for years :) Glad I was able to try it out!

And LOL, that's it for the pictures :) We took so many in the first half of her visit that in the second half, we just didn't bother. We did do other stuff such as going to the UBS and Ames got to watch me curl... and we did watch a lot Doctor Who episodes :) All in all, another great visit! I loved having Ames over and was so glad she stayed a whole week. Can't wait for the next time and hopefully, we'll make it to NYC!

Review: Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross

Hi everyone!

Yes, I'm alive. I guess I jinxed myself in my last post when I said that I was doing "quite good" ^_^; On Tuesday, I noticed a rash under my left armpit and after a visit to the doctor, the diagnostic was shingles. Sigh. Gotta say though I wasn't too surprised. Shingles is basically the reactivation of the chickenpox virus that lies in you dormant. It usually occurs when the immune system is weakened. Let see, hmmmm. Ruptured appendix, antibiotics treatment, possible allergic reactions, allergy test, stress from every twitch and twinge, lack of sleep and start of curling season... Yep, it could be that my immune system was a bit weakened. Luckily, I went to the doctor promptly and started the anti-virals within the three days the rash appeared, which is when the drug is most effective. As a result, my rash didn't spread - yay! - and I was also lucky that it wasn't painful nor itchy. Today is my last day of anti-virals and the rash has lost its redness :) Hoping to play curling this week!

With everything going on, I haven't really been in the mood of blogging. I'm so far behind in my reviews, it's kind of getting overwhelming. Plus, I'm not really sure what I'm in the mood to read. I was waiting for today impatiently!! Need to replenish my pile of new releases LOL. Despite everything though, I was able to put together a buddy review with Ames over at Breezing Through. We both read Letters to Nowhere and wanted to share out thoughts with everyone. Be sure to check it out because we're also doing a giveaway! Click here for the review :)

Letters to Nowhere by Julie Cross
self-published in August 2013

Set in the tough world of Elite Gymnastics... I've gotten used to the dead parents face. I've gotten used to living with my gymnastics coach. I've even adjusted to sharing a bathroom with his way-too-hot son. Dealing with boys is not something that's made it onto my list of experiences as of yet. But here I am, doing it. And something about Jordan--being around him, talking to him, thinking about him--makes me feel like I can finally breathe again. That's something I haven't been able to do lately. He knows what it feels like to be me right now. He knows what it's like to wonder--what now? I think about it constantly. I need answers. I need to know how to get through this. In the gym, if you're struggling, you train harder, you do drills and conditioning. How do I work hard at moving on? At being on my own? And what happens if I might be...maybe...probably falling for Jordan? I mean we live together now. That can't happen, can it? But kissing him...well, let's just say it's not an easy activity to forget.

Genre: Young Adult/New Adult, Contemporary
Series: Letters to Nowhere, Book #1

Hauling Sunday CXXI

Hi everyone!

How are you doing? Yes, I'm still alive and actually doing quite good. Still having some twitches and twinges from time to time, but aside from that, everything's good :) Can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post! I didn't mean to stay absent for so long, but I've been quite busy and my blogging muse is still absent :(

Last week, Ames was in Montreal for a visit! Initially, the plan was to go to NYC and visit Hilcia, Christine and Mariana... However, with the ruptured appendix, we elected to stay in Canada ^_^; So instead, last week-end, we went to Quebec City which was good as well since I got to visit my uncle :) I'll have a post with pictures up some time this week :) Also, curling started again! Yay! I played two games already... Was supposed to play another one today, but I woke up yesterday with some pain on the right side. For a moment, I was afraid it was my appendix getting worst, but after a day of rest, I think it was only soreness. Still, decided to take it easy and got a spare. Seems like I'm going to have to revise my curling schedule a bit ^_^;

Reading-wise, it's been going oh so slowly. Just too busy and not really in the mood. However, that has never stopped me from getting books LOL. So here are my new precious :)

I pre-ordered The House of Hades a while back. Lucky too because at first, I was debating whether to pre-order it or wait till I go to NYC to buy it. In the end, I was able to use a 25% off coupon in addition to the 24% discount we get on books online, so I got it for pretty cheap. It took me a while, but I did finish it yesterday :) I requested The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap over at Netgalley, but really wasn't in the mood to read the proof copy. Thanks to Kobo's coupons, I decided to buy it. I'll be reviewing it once it's read... Probably some time closer to Christmas. I also purchased Broken Silence as an e-book. I mean, it's Karen Rose! Can't wait for Watch Your Back to come out!

Also, as it is customary when Ames comes over, we went to the UBS :) It's been a really long while since I've last been... I was able to pick up High Passion. I read High Risk and enjoyed it and I know Ames liked High Passion... and I was able to find a copy of Sea Swept, trade-size edition. The Cheasapeake Quartet is one of my favorites by Ms Roberts and so I've been eyeing the new trade-size edition ever since they've been released, but 18$ for books that I already have seems a bit steep a price. 3.95$ though was a steal!!

So that's it for me in the past two weeks. What about you? I can't wait till October 29 for release galore! LOL.

Hauling Sunday CXX

Hi everyone :)

So I'm a bit bored and thought I'd write up this post since it's long overdue.

Things are going okay on my end I guess. I'm taking things easy. I'm still paranoid about every twinge and twitch... and turns out I started my periods as well, so that doesn't help matter. Sigh. However, I don't have a fever or more pain, so that's good. Side effects of the antibiotics are still hitting me from time to time, but less, so that's another good thing... Also, it's my sister's birthday today and we're not doing anything... and I feel guilty for it :( Since we spent the week at the hospital, we didn't have the chance to prepare anything. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it up for her when I feel better!

There's a "Buy one book and get 50% off on the second" promotion going on at Chapters/Indigo this week-end, but I don't really have anything to buy. All the books I really wanted, I've already pre-ordered and the others... well they're either not available at the bookstore or I can keep waiting. Plus, it's raining so that's making me lazy...

But here are some new books that found their way to my house...

 

I got Fangirl and Thankless in Death in the mail a while ago, actually before the trip to Washington D.C., but was kind of busy... and then, the ruptured appendix happened and did not have time to blog about it. I've read both books and enjoyed them a lot :) As for Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, I just downloaded today on Tabitha's recommendation (yes, she's still alive :P). Lucky too as it was a freebie on Kobo!

So that's it for me right now :) What about you? What new books did you get recently?