Another year, another nom

Last year I made my Buffalo Chicken Dip to take to our friends' New Year's Eve party.  I haven't made it since, so I was quite surprised when I got a text from the same friend who hosted last year's party, yesterday, asking me to bring it again this weekend.  So yes, it really is that good.  I'm also planning on trying out a caramel brownie recipe as well. Wish me luck!

Art projects

Apparently this much takes about an hour.

Ornament Swap II

Last year the ornament swap was a great success, and everyone who played received an ornament (and in some cases more than one, because a couple players were feeling the quantity last year, and that's okay, just unnecessary).

Last year my tree got TADISed. Love.

So join in, and have fun.


The Rulez-

Sign up by Wednesday, 12/7/11 and ship by Friday 12/16/10.  That will give your ornaments time to show up and be well loved and admired before Christmas, and give us all over a week of Christmas ornament rushing to get it made or bought to send.  Of course, you can start before you get assigned your "mailing" buddy.

Who can participate?  You can. Do you have a mailing address? You can play.  To keep shipping reasonable, I am going to try to arrange for people within a certain country to send to people in their same country, but if you're from the US and you've always dreamed of sending overseas, let me know you're open to international swapping when you sign up.

How Much Do I have to Spend?

Shipping. 
You can handmake or purchase your ornament for the swap, and spend as little or as much as you'd like, so long as it is something you feel someone would treasure and truly appreciate hanging on their tree. 

My plan is to pair people up randomly and once you're paired, I'll share addresses amongst partners for the swap.

So, to sign up, you need to do the following.
Email me- fentonslee at gmail, the following info.

1. Name
2. Address
3. Blog URL (you don't have to have one of these, but hey, if I'm going to link up participants, wouldn't you want to be linked to?)
4. Twitter name (again, if I'm going to link up participants, wouldn't you want to be linked to?)
5. If you have a strong preference for handmade, say so. 
6. If you have a strong preference for traditional or non traditional say so. Like surprises? Let me know.

Then, when all is said and done, you can post a picture of the ornament you sent and recieved, and link back here, and I'll set up a linky so we can all see everyone's spiffy new additions to their trees!

Wrapped by Jennifer Brdbury

Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bradbury's Wrapped is a fun and compelling tale. I laid down to start it one evening, and found myself finished before I fell asleep some four hours later.  I enjoyed the story quite a bit, though at times I was irritated with the overt career vs relationship and gender role expectation vs individuality themes.  Yes, I love a good "girl triumphs over what others want her to do with her life," story, but they're more enjoyable when that is a subtle undertone, rather than an overt overtone.


Aside from that, it's an interesting trip into another place in time, and Bradbury does a marvelous job of evoking the bizarre customs of a time that considered itself extremely rational yet strikes the modern reader as surreal.  If you enjoy Victoriana, this is a good book for you.


As a side note, Wrapped is the sort of YA I feel comfortable recommending to my daughter, as there are no sexual relations, which is becoming more and more difficult to find in YA.


Can I get a w00t for family friendly mummies, espionage, natural history, and coming of age?  Yep, there it is. w00t.




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Idris: a work in progress

The Map of Time

The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm not in love.


I thought I'd be in love. I wanted to be in love, but I'm not.


The Map of Time is written in three sections. I finished the first section, and it just about everything was adequately tied up, and so when I set the book down to sleep the night I finished that part, I didn't feel compelled to pick it up again.


My distaste for leaving stories unread will likely lead me to pick it up again at some point in time to finish, but I'm not eager to do so.  Palma does weave an interesting tale, but the way it's written is hard for me to enjoy.  Palma is a short story artist, and as such, the tale is chopped into little short stories which in combination add to the overall story arc. The problem is, when I become invested in something, not only does the author pause that story, but instead begins to tell a side character's mostly unrelated anecdotal back story.


Perhaps if I did not have so little time available to read, I would enjoy this halting story telling style more.  I want to. I really want to, but alas, I can not.


I suppose (spoiler alert, kind of) the fact that the tale begins with a main character's decision, plan, and actions to kill himself, detracts from my ability to love this story quite as much as I'd like to.  More and more, when I read this sort of thing, I am reminded of all the people I know who have killed themselves, and it is quite disturbing, and does not lend, at all, to the likability of any of the characters.


Interestingly, it seems Palma is uninterested in his characters' likability, which, of course, may also have something to do with why I don't love this story. I like likable characters. Go figure, right?  Yes, I want my characters complicated, flawed, and deeply human (or inhuman, if the plot calls for it) but with the sorts of saving graces that make them inherently likable.  So far, in the first third of The Map of Time, I have yet to meet any particularly likable character.


Well, I'm sure my opinion will change, at least slightly, by the time I finish it, but for now?  If you're looking for a great time travel romp, I can't really recommend it. It's okay, but I only want to recommend wonderful.


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Public Service Announcement: Making fudge or caramels this week? Always remember to test your candy thermometer.