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I’m an avid reader as well as being an eclectic one. I tend to prefer fiction over non-fiction (unless it’s a technical book), since I mostly read for escape and non-fiction writers often write like they feel like they can’t use some of the same wording patterns that fiction writers do.

At any rate, I’m starting a new blog for book reviews. My plans are to review everything from children’s books (since I have grandchildren ranging in ages from 3 to 13, I need to know what they’re being exposed to) to adult fiction and non-fiction as well as technical books.

I’ve done a few book reviews on this blog, such as the one on “Dead Days of Summer” and while the post on “SQL Server 2005 Companion” isn’t EXACTLY a review, I did write a 1200+ word review of this book for PASS. Those few reviews don’t begin to touch the volume of books I read in a week. I’m not always reading the newest on the book stands either, so you’re going to get reviews of titles you’ve seen, but not picked up yet. Hopefully you’ll find a treasure in among them.

I’ve also created a forum to go along with the blog as it seemed like discussing books and hearing what authors are of interest to my blog readers would be of importance. I’m very new to forum management, so hope you’ll excuse any mistakes I’ve made.

The first review is on John Sanford’s “Invisible Prey”. I hope you enjoy it.

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Have you seen this lovely award across the blogosphere lately?

I have and have so envied all the wonderful blogs who have received it. Of course, they’re all eminently worthy of receiving the award and I have agreed with every single choice! When the site wasn’t familiar to me, I visited it from the links at the awards site and found yet more wonderful blogs to add to my daily reading pleasure.

Can you imagine how excited I was to find out someone chose this humble blog as a recipient?!?

I’m so touched that Iris from  The BuzzNutter chose me as one of her 5 recipients to pass the trophy on to. I’m even more touched by what she wrote about my blog — go read it — she’s so sweet!

Since part of the conditions of being an Arte y Pico recipient are that you must choose 5 other blogs to pass it on to, now I have the task of choosing only 5 out of the hundreds of blogs I so admire every day.

From the Arte y Pico originator:

The “Arte y Pico” award was created and to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents, whether it be writing, artwork in all medias When you receive this award it is considered a “special honor”. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to at least 5 others.

I guess first and foremost has to be Sailor from Nice to All. Just like his blog’s title he IS nice to all. Not to mention he helps you make your blog or website a better place for everyone to visit. Thank you, Sailor for all you’ve done for me — helped me to be a better net citizen. I know I still have a ways to go, but with your guidance, I’m sure to get there.

My second choice goes to a blog that has given me much pleasure to read and follow. Nicole at Modern Glam has brought me to the brink of fashion. I haven’t actually fallen in yet (much to my husband’s relief), but I’m getting pretty close. Nicole’s sense of fashion is impeccable. She’s doesn’t let trends get in her way of creating a solid, fashionable look that is never garish or uncomplimentary. You end up looking totally glamorous when she gets through with you.

Third choice is one blog that I’ve been reading for months although I don’t think I’ve ever left one single comment on his site. There really isn’t much I can offer in the way of a comment beyond “wonderful choice!” or “WOW”. Clark picks some of he coolest videos to be found anywhere on the net and brings them to me. I like a lot of different types of music and so does Clark — from jazz to rock and roll, classical to contemporary Clark finds unique and awe inspiring videos exhibiting the best of the best. So, for some great music videos, head over to Clark’s Picks and see what’s on for today.

You know that I can’t leave you without a food blog, don’t you? Cooking  IS an art and cooking healthy is beyond art. Gina’s Weight Watchers Recipes goes way beyond diet food. Gina presents us with tasty, healthily prepared foods that are designed to help us lose or maintain weight loss. The food is presented arfully and believe me when I tell you it’s delicious! I have several people at work reading her blog and using her recipes to help them with their weight control goals.

Last but certainly not least is Kriz Cpec Photo Blog. Photography is my second hobby (after blogging) and Kriz is much like me in that he enjoys photographing birds, flowers and wildlife. I appreciate photos of people and landscapes, too but photos of birds especially enthrall me. This young person captures birds in all sorts of settings doing all the things birds do. His photography skills improve daily and he’s caught some really great shots of unique specimines as well as done some outstanding art shots of lights. I wish I had access to the aviary where he does most of his photography!

Gosh — I could give out more than 5 awards! There are so many awesome blogs out there. I’m so blessed to be a part of this community.

Thank you again, Iris, for gifting me with not only this award, but your friendship as well.

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I bought a Suzuki SX4 Crossover about a month ago.  I’ve put almost 2000 miles on it in that month and wanted to revisit the car and my experience with the Suzuki Store in purchasing it.

I love the car for the most part. It’s responsive and fun to drive. It’s comfortable and has most of the acessories I like having in a car. My overall experience in buying the car was a whole other dimension above any I’ve ever had when purchasing a car and I give kudos to Perry Campbell as a salesperson.

But, as the saying goes, the honeymoon is over.

One of the things I was told was a part of my purchase was that I would be getting a gas card good for a year’s worth of gas. They (this was the sales manager talking, not Perry) said it would have about $1200 on the card. Of course you have to wait to get the card and on the same day as I (ironically) received the first payment notice, the card came.

Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that it’s not a year’s worth of gas but a SUMMER’s worth and that is apparently 1/3 the amount of a year’s worth in actual dollars and cents. Oh and the REALLY irritating thing about this card is that although it SAYS it’s a debit card, you have to choose credit when using it for your gas purchase as they don’t provide a pin number, so you can’t use it as a debit card. This means you have to pay 2-5 cents per gallon MORE for gas to cover the credit card fees. I’m totally bummed out over that little fact! I feel like not only did I get shafted for $900, but now they’re also taking part of the $300 I DID get back.

Couple this with the steady decline in gas mileage I’m getting and you have someone who’s not as thrilled as she was before getting the gas card. Ignorance is bliss.

I know that mileage is heavily dependent upon driving habits and whether you’re driving highway or in traffic. My commute to work starts at 6:00 am and is for the most part the equivalent of highway since at that time of the morning and with the posted speed limits for the majority of the drive being 55, you can actually GO 55 mph. I set the cruise and let it do most of the work for the majority of the drive since I have a 30 mile stretch on one road. The first tank of gas got 30 mpg — which was as advertised taking into consideration the bit of in-traffic driving I do. However, it’s steadily declined since then and the last fill up saw 26 mpg.

I’ve been told that generally speaking motors get more efficient as they get broken in, so I’m hoping this trend at least levels out soon.

The car has also developed an irritating rattle in the dash over some road surfaces. I’m hoping that if I take it to the dealership, they can put some kind of felt in there to quell that as I’m 1000% sure it will drive my BMW-test-driver-inspector hubby absolutely mad to hear it (not to mention how it’s making me feel - me who drives it every day).

There are some seriously dangerous blind spots in this car. You can’t look to your right at an intersection unless its a perfectly straight one and see traffic coming from your right. You have to turn the car towards the right in order to see it clearly. When changing lanes, there’s another blind spot although you can overcome that one by setting your left side view mirror out more than usual. The cause of these blind spots are the door posts. This is a 4 door car and it’s got lots of windows, but the door posts are pretty wide and obscure your view to either side of the car. Since the car has side impact air bags, I’m sure the door posts are the size they are to accommodate those, but that seems to be a trade-off in safety that negates the air bags.

Although the mileage issue has the potential to be the biggest disappointment since I bought the car to be a fuel-efficient replacement for one of our aging mini vans, driving it to and from work isn’t the true test of gas mileage. I’ll be giving it that true highway test next weekend as I travel to Huntington, WV for a dog show. Hubby would go with me if we had satellite radio in the car, but since we don’t he’s staying home. The car is “XM Radio Ready”, however I didn’t even get a trial subscription, so have to settle for CD’s or just plain AM/FM radio (which is perfectly fine by me since I listen to public radio 90% of the time).

How would you feel if you had paid $xx,xxx for a new car and had these same experiences? Which would disturb you more — the gas card being 1/3 of what you were told it would be or the mileage being less than advertised?

Bear in mind that I haven’t communicated any of this to the dealership yet, so have nothing to report about post-sale support. That will be another post

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Among the most beautiful and unusual creations are freshwater pearls. Although in the past, they have not held the allure and value of saltwater pearls, jewelry designers have taken these unique gifts of the waters and made them into things of beauty.

One of the reasons they were disparaged in the past is because they usually are not perfectly round like salt water pearls, but in these modern times, their often unusual shapes and the wide range of colors available are making them hot, trendy and exciting.

Sometimes called baroque pearls, they begin just like traditional pearls as a grain of sand inside a freshwater mollusk. The mollusk deposits layer upon layer of nacre until the pearl is of a size to be harvested. Freshwater pearls are now farmed in the rivers of China, and Japan.

I recently obtained an exquisite string of pink pearls that are going to be my Granddaughter’s thirteenth birthday present. She loves all things pink, so the color alone is going to please her, but I hope that she begins a tradition that is often associated with pearls — handing them from mother to daughter. Since I never had a daughter, we’ll have to skip a generation, but I don’t think that’s going to make the tradition any less meaningful. I debated about waiting to give them to her when she marries which is also somewhat of a tradition, but decided that this time in her life is an important one as moving into the teen years is often a pivotal time especially for a young girl.

I got these pearls from www.pearlparadise.com which has a wide selection of pearl jewelry to choose from. I was very pleased with the selection, ease of ordering, delivery and the lovely case that came with the pearls.