I Have Issues

It's no secret to those that know me that I have some "issues". Some of them are laughable, some we'll just call "quirky" and others are downright annoying. I'm not going to delve into most of them because we just don't need to be airing that all out. ;) One that I do want to get into is my obsessive tendencies.

While I don't mind this quality so much (most of the time), I'm sure others (the boyfriend, my animals, my trainer, my friends and family, my boss and co-workers) may be pretty annoyed by it.

For what's now been almost two full years I've been rather obsessive about reading. It all started with the Twilight series, which I've now read multiple times. That segued into the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, which led to the Sookie Stackhouse series, both read more through more than once, along with quite a few other random books in between. So that's quite a few books.

But I love reading. I mean, L-O-V-E it. I'll take reading over tv any day. So I don't mind all that much that once I find a good book, I get rather obsessive about finishing it. It's not such a problem when it's a random book here and there. But I've been finding all of these excellent SERIES to read lately, some are 5 or 6 (or more!) books long! And while I love reading, it can be seriously time consuming! And it's not real effective to multi-task while you're reading. It's not like I can clean or ride my horse or drive while I'm reading. I've managed some cooking while reading, but it's not the best way to cook or read.

Basically, bottom line is, I read every single spare moment I can somewhat responsibly manage. Which means not much cleaning gets done, many more fast food drive thrus are hit up or cans of chili cracked open for dinner, not much riding gets done and I all but check out of the world around me as soon as my butt hits that couch and that book gets in my hand. I have been known to avoid opportunities to socialize preferring to stay home and read. Again, doesn't tend to bother me all that much, but I'm sure it's rather annoying to those around me.

Most recently I had the Harry Potter series forced on me. Like, really, I was told I HAD to read them, there were no excuses, here's the books, now READ. Ok, so maybe it didn't go exactly like that, but mostly. I swear.

Of course about half way through the first book I was completely hooked. Such a great series, even reading it at 29 years old! But 7 books, a few thousand pages and a month and a half later... Where the hell did summer go?! How can it already be the END of AUGUST?! And how have I not blogged since MAY?!?!

Yikes. Time seems to just evaporate when there are books to be read.

I know I've said it before (but I'm far too lazy to go find the post and link to it here), I need to quit. Cold turkey. No more reading! At least for a little while. I still need to paint my bathroom. And my bedroom. And my living room. And clean. And ride my horseS (story to come one of these days, hopefully). And take pictures. And blog! There are TONS of things that I should be doing with my time that would be WAY better uses of such a precious commodity.

But the wheels are already turning on what my next book will be. *sigh*

Hibernating Already

Well, as I've been trying to make my rounds and get caught up on the regular blogs that I read it sounds like the general consensus is that this time of year is just darn busy! I know I've been pretty busy lately, getting summer stuff wrapped up, getting going with boot camp, trying to take advantage of the nice weather while it lasts, soaking up as much sun as I possibly can while it's here. I know it won't last me thru the winter, but a girl can try, right?

I've got a long list of Summer Projects that I really wanted to get done this year, but just didn't happen. I'm trying to figure out how many I can squeeze into the next few weeks. It's not looking promising.

I still owe my friend a trail ride that I promised her for her birthday. In March.

We still don't have stalls. That's all I'm going to say about that.

My main issue, however, is that I'm already going into hibernation mode. I can't seem to help it. I got sucked back into the black hole of reading and it may be next spring before I come out of it. I guess I'm already preparing myself for another long winter. One thing that I really loved about last winter (quite possible the only thing) was how much reading I did. I loooove to read. I really haven't read much in a really long time, like years, but last fall I got sucked into Twilight and it was all down hill from there. I read a lot. I can't even remember how many books I plowed through, but I know it was quite a few. Probably atleast a dozen, and I read some of them twice. It was fabulous! I tried to keep my nose out of books this summer so I could ride my horse, do laundry, get some yard work done, maybe tackle a project or two around the house, you know...be a responsible adult. It's so hard to be productive when all I want to do is finish whatever book I'm in.

The weather was pretty nasty around here for a week or two: cold, gray, rainy...I think that was what got me thinking about hibernating. I couldn't help it. After a crazy hectic summer, I was perfectly happy to grab a book, a blanket and my fleece yoga pants and park my butt on the couch for a bit. The weather has cleared up again but I still seem to be in hibernation mode. I'm still perfectly happy reading, though I do feel a little guilty when the sun is out. Ok, a lot guilty. I've discovered that reading in the rocker on the porch or stretched out on a blanket in the backyard to soak up some sun while I'm reading does help with that guilt though. Still not getting anything done, but atleast I'm enjoying the nice weather while it's around.

I've stocked up my "to be read" shelf, it's good and ready for winter. Amazon makes it WAY too easy to order stuff, those butt heads. And then the free shipping with a qualifying $30 purchase = trouble! I love free shipping. And those bastards even send me emails with suggestions of books to buy based on what I've ordered in the past. The nerve! So many books to read, so many other things I should be doing instead!

I'm also really looking forward to reading Twilight yet again. I'm thinking if I start it around the beginning of November, I should be able to get through it just in time to go see New Moon. I'm excited for that movie! I'm trying not to be because I really don't want to be disappointed, but it's really hard because there seems to be a lot of hype surrounding it. I hate hype. I would really rather have low expectations going into a movie and come out totally enamored, then be let down from listening to all the hype. I may, just possibly, be planning to be a total Twitard and go see the midnight opening night show. Maybe. You didn't hear that from me.

In other news, boot camp is going well. I've been so busy with other things and since we still don't have an arena at our house (another epic fail for us this year) I haven't been getting a lot of saddle time on my own, but our lessons are going very well. We're making progress. Midori is getting more responsive and I'm getting better about not being such a control freak. I know, I know...me? Control freak?!? Who'da thunk it?! lol

We have one more cutting show for the summer series. I'm hoping it goes well! I would like to end on a good note. After that I'm really going to focus solely on our boot camp. The winter series starts the weekend after our last cutting show. I plan to do the reining portion again. The boyfriend is still deciding if he wants to do reining or cutting. Or both. Since I won the rookie reining class I was in last year I have to move up to the next class. It is still two handed, but requires flying lead changes. I'm not expecting anything out of the series this year as I've got some pretty stiff competition. The classes are $12 and it gives me an excuse to get on my horse and have something to work for all winter. I plan to use the series as a way to measure my boot camp progress. That is all. I certainly wouldn't mind winning, but that's not what it's about for me this year. I'll have to bookmark that statement and keep referring back to it after every show. ;o)

Other then that, I think the summer craziness seems to be winding down. I'm looking forward to fall and all it's glory and hoping the sun sticks around for a while. I'm excited for pumpkin flavored anything, hard carmelled apple cider and all the brilliant fall colors. I really do love fall.

Another Fun Day

This is my favorite way to spend a day...

And that is how I spent a good chunk of my day today. I was a happy girl! We had a horse show, but even after sitting on my horse for a solid 4 hours I wasn't ready to be done with her when I got home. I jumped on bareback with the halter and let her graze while I sprawled on her back, trying to figure out how the heck I used to be able to do that and not fall off! Sometimes I really miss being a flexible, bouncy little kid! It was a nice way to wind down from the show for both of us.

The show was fun, but the cow gods were not smiling on me today and Midori and I just weren't on the same page. I was sore from battling thistles the night before and she felt stiff and I could tell her head wasn't in the game. She was hanging on the bit and not bending and I just had a feeling it was not going to be our day.

It wasn't. The cows we got were little pistols. They shot out of the gate and stood there, tail and head in the air, just daring me to try to push them around. I've been trying to let Midori work more on her own lately since she's really been cowing up, but that didn't work out so well for me today. By the time I would realize she wasn't going to stop and turn on her own with the cow and got to telling her what to do myself the cow had already turned and we were behind. It just wasn't our day. We lost our working advantage twice. That's the first time this year that's happened to me and to have it happen twice in one run was very frustrating. I may have cursed the second time it happened. Loudly. I still made it out of there with a 65, the lowest score I've received in my lengthy cutting career (4 shows), which landed me in 5th place out of 10. Not horrible, but I was a little disappointed with our run.

The boyfriend, on the other hand, was a total rock star on his run! Sugar was amazing! She was all over those cows like white on rice! She totally cowed up and he got a couple really good cows and they had a really great run, scoring a 70, which put them in first place. It also marked the first time the boyfriend has beat me at cutting. I'm sure I'll be hearing about it for a while.

Even though my run wasn't the greatest it was still a fun day. I love spending time with my horse and the boyfriend so I can't hardly complain.

In other news: Day 2 of no reading just sucks. I'm trying to not think about it, but I did catch myself in the office looking at the "books to be read" shelf. I made myself go outside and feed the critters and finish weeding around the raspberries instead. When I was finished with that I came back in the house and layed on the couch staring at the ceiling for a while, wishing I had a book to read. Then I made a pound cake and strawberry soup. While the pound cake was baking I was wishing I had a book to read. So I loaded pics from the day and got to blogging. I'm sure as soon as I'm done with this I'll wish I had a book to read. Maybe I'll just watch a little tv. Or maybe I'll go grab a book. I did do a bunch of laundry, baked a cake, did the dishes, finished weeding the raspberries...all very productive, so I deserve a reward, right? A reward like, say, getting to pick a book to read, right?! *sigh*

Off to watch a little tv and try to be good atleast a little bit longer.

Catching Up

Whew! Man, what a busy couple weeks it's been! I'm pretty well wiped out and so happy it's Friday! Of course we have a horse show tomorrow so I don't get to sleep in as much as I would like, but a couple hours is better then nothin'!

Here's a few little tidbits about what I've been up to...

I've commenced the all out WAR on the weeds at my house. I'm DETERMINED to get them under control this year! I think this war may be the death of me though. Holy cow do we have weeds! And I think they are all super charged.

Wow. Just, wow.

I haven't gotten any real pictures of our jungle over here yet, I will have to do that one of these days. It's scary and they are EVERY WHERE!!! I took a little walk around the property tonight and pretty much couldn't go into the bottom half because the grass was up to my shoulders and intertwined with thistles and sticker bushes and nettles and all sorts of viney crap that I didn't feel like fighting with.

This is one of the weeds that is taking over our fenclines.




It was pretty for all of about 4 days while it had these cute little fuschia colored blooms on it. Now, it's just 2-4 foot long vines that have very strong roots and are rather difficult to pull up. They also seem to be rather invasive.

But then, everything seems to be invasive right now!

The war on weeds is going to take some time. We've already broken down and ended up having to spray the nice lush green areas that are supposed to be gravel. We're hoping if we're really on top of it this year, spray the hell out of everything and kill it all good and dead, then hopefully we can be a little more environmentally and critter friendly in the coming years and just maintain it. That's the plan anyways. I have a feeling the weeds didn't get the memo though.

That has pretty much been my life lately. Weed, weed, weed and weed some more. There is lots of cleaning up and just general maintenance and catching up to do around the yard too. Since we didn't do a whole lot with it last year and it had been empty for a while when we moved in, there is just lots and lots of catching up to do.

We'll get there eventually. I know it's not going to happen over night.

Anyways, on to happier subjects!

All of the hanging pots and planters that I did are alive and thriving! YAY! You don't even know what a relief this is to me! I spent some dough on getting those all put together and I was very afraid I was just wasting my time and money because I tend to have a not so green thumb. In fact, lately, I've taken to calling it my black thumb of death.

This is one of the pots that sit in the corners of the porch. It was dusk when I took this so the tall flowers in the back (no clue what they are called, sorry!) were closed for the evening, but they are still looking pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself!

Here we have one of the hanging baskets. Check out how big everything has gotten! Just in the last week or so the petunias have exploded and started to bloom. I have to smile every time I pull in my driveway and see the baskets because they are just so pretty! Which, of course, was the whole reason for doing them!


Next up we have one of my absolute favorite parts of this time of year...

Is there anything better then a cleaned up, ready to eat bowl of fresh off the farm local strawberries?!?

Ok, so maybe the raspberries from my garden are even better, but I do love me some strawberries!!! I'm lucky to have one of the best fruit stands around right by my work so it's super duper easy to swing in and get a box of berries. The stand finally opened this week and I was so happy to have a box riding shot gun on my way home tonight!

I love having fresh strawberries! I like eating them plain, and probably end up eating about a pint of them just while cleaning up the half flat. I love strawberry soup, it's so good over ice cream or pound cake or just with cream. I love strawberry daquiris and margaritas. I love freezing strawberries and having them on hand for later. My favorite pie EVER is fresh strawberry pie. Mmm MMM! My sister makes one of the best cakes I've ever had with fresh strawberry slices and bavarian cream in the middle of a white cake. Atleast I think that's what it is.

So strawberries are here, summer has begun! :)

Other then that I've been working, trying to ride my horse as much as I can, which is working out to be about twice a week: when I work buffalo and when I have drill practice. Three times a week if I have a cutting show. I've also been trying to kick this very time consuming habit I've been rather obsessive about lately. I can't stop reading. Like, really, I think I have a problem. I had been reading a book here and there last year, probably averaging like 1 every few months. And then I got sucked into Twilight, which lead to the rest of the series. Twice. Then the Host, then the 8 books of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. With a few other random books thrown in in between. I just finished the latest BDB book last night and told myself I need to do some other stuff for a while. Just hold off on starting another book for a bit. But man, I'm jonesin'. It hasn't even been 24 hours and I feel lost not having a book to read! It's bad.

I'll take reading over watching tv any day of the week. I love reading. Trouble is, if a book is any good at all, I'm rather obsessive about finishing it as fast as I possibly can. Which means I'm picking it up any chance I have. Usually instead of doing something productive like weeding or dishes. It's been rather problematic lately since the days are long and the sun is out and the weeds are growing like...well, weeds. I have other things I need to be doing, but all I want to do is curl up with my book. It doesn't work so well. So I told myself that since I'm finished with the BDB series as far as it's gone so far that I'll just hold off on starting another book for a little while so I can get some stuff done around the house, maybe cook a meal or two, ride my horse a bit on my own, take some pictures, heck maybe even blog a bit and say hi to the boyfriend, see if he still remembers what I look like when I'm not buried behind a book.

I just didn't realize it would be quite this difficult. I wonder if I can quit cold turkey. Is there a support group for people like me? A 12 step plan?

Anywho, hopefully if I can stick to it I can actually get caught up on the blogs I read and blog a bit more often myself. We'll have to wait and see!

Hope you all are getting to enjoy some sun and summery stuff!

My brand of heroin

Wow. I feel like I'm 12 years old, obsessing over the cute boy in math class or something. I really, really cannot get Twilight off the brain lately. Again. I finished re-reading the entire series a week or so ago and have been trying to focus on other things since then. I was doing pretty good for a while. Ok, like 5 days, but still, that's pretty good. Then I started missing Forks and the Cullens. Missing them like I miss my horse when I don't ride for a few days or like I would guess I'd miss the boyfriend if he ever left for any length of time.

Finally, last night I couldn't take it any more. I needed a Twilight fix and I needed it bad! Somehow I ended up at Borders. I didn't need to be there, I hadn't exactly planned to go there, but I found excuses. Then Borders just happened to have a whole table dedicated to everything Twilight right up front. I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. I walked out of there with the magnet set and Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion. Cuz I needed them and all. I am such a nerd. It worked though, I got my fix. I was a happy girl last night.

Then I see this morning that Twilight the movie is available for preorder on dvd already. Crap. The frenzy started all over again.

So now I've got the dvd preordered, along with the Official Guide and I threw in a soundtrack (already available) just to be thorough. I don't know when I will actually get either of the preordered items, I didn't see any actual release dates, but as soon as they are released I'm going to have one in my hot little hands! I can't wait!

On a not entirely unrelated subject...one of the "other things" I've been trying to focus on is The Host, Stephenie Meyer's other book. I've been struggling to get into it though. It starts out a little slow and weird. Plus, after Twilight, I figure reading anything else is going to be something like eating hamburger after filet mignon. After I was satisfied with my Twilight fix last night I decided to force myself to read just one more chapter in The Host before I went to bed. Over an hour and 4 1/2 chapters later, I realized I had reached the "BAM, you're hooked" part of the book. Twilight had it and I guess it shouldn't surprise me that The Host does too.

Up until last night I wasn't terribly worried about The Host. I figured nothing could touch my Twilight addiction. But now I'm not so sure. I hope I'm not finding another brand of heroin that I can't put down. I don't know if there's enough room in my head for both addictions and I'm pretty sure there isn't enough time in my day for either!

Who is this person?!?

I'm really beginning to wonder who this strange person is who has taken over my body in regards to the Twilight Saga. This person seems to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder. She likes to completely ignore all responsibilities, house cleaning, hungry animals and boyfriends and bodily functions in favor of reading.

The fact that we ever got sucked into this series to begin with still mystifies me. It's a teenage vampire love story for crying out loud! But I believe they are some of the best books I've ever read.

Luckily we finished the series so we atleast know the whole story and can relax a little bit, but this strange person still has not vacated the premises. We decided to go see the movie. Yes, that's right...I saw a movie based on a book that I read. The weird part: I LOVED it! I do think it helped that I went into it with probably the lowest expectations you could possibly have for a movie and I knew it wouldn't live up to the book, because you just can't in 2 hours. I think they did an amazing job of condensing the book into a movie though. There are things in the book that you just can't put into a movie, no matter how big the budget or how cool the special effects are: there was too much emotion and being inside Bella's head in the book and you still have to cast human actors for the vampires. But I surprised myself by being ok with that. They did what they could and it was great having read the book so I knew the rest of the story. It was amazing seeing it come to life.

Then, on top of not only going to see the movie, but absolutely loving it, I've started reading the series again. This is the first time I've ever chosen to re-read a book. I think I'm loving the books more the second time around too! I'm not as anxious about the basics of the story line this time around so I can really soak in all the details that I skimmed over before. I thought knowing the end might ruin it, but it still gets intense and hard to put down. It's fabulous! I love it.

So maybe some day I'll be able to feel like myself and put the Twilight Saga on the shelf so it can look pretty sitting there collecting dust with the other books I've already read, but sadly, I don't think that day is going to come any time soon. At this point, I think I could re-read these books for atleast the next 3-5 years and not get bored of them. Maybe. I'm definately willing to test this hypothesis.

In a hurry...

I know I've heard/read it before, somewhere, that any time you're in a hurry, hoping to just get a quick, productive ride in, that is when the epic battles occur. Last night was one of those nights and one of *those* rides. Grrr!
Everything was wrong right from the beginning. I was distracted. I had other things on my mind. Like the crack that is the Twilight Saga and the second book waiting for me in my truck. I had meetings to avoid and try not to feel guilty about. I also had people to avoid so they didn't add to that guilt.

I went straight to the arena after work to meet the boyfriend, who had hauled the horses there for us to ride. He hadn't brought my riding boots, which have my spurs on them. He thought I had grabbed them before I left for work. Doh! Luckily I had my pull on cowboy boots on so I could still ride, but I really don't like riding in pull on cowboy boots. They rub and have chunky soles that throw my balance off in my stirrups that are the perfect length for my packer boots with not chunky soles. I know, I know...whine, whine, whine. But it a really does make a difference! Plus, I try to keep my cowboy boots clean and not smelly so I can wear them to work. I hate sitting at my desk and smelling dirty boots and I try to be considerate of my co-workers, who are very city.

So I get on, not expecting much out of the ride. We have been working on responsiveness to my seat, which would be fine, but responsiveness period is a little hard when you don't have spurs to help you demand. Plus, as I mentioned before, I was just plain distracted. I wanted to get a good ride in quickly and get home so I could settle in and finally get my fix. It had been almost 3 DAYS since I finished Twilight.

I took it easy to begin with, just did a lot of long trotting on a loose rein, working on moving off my legs and rating to my body. That all went fine. We even got some stopping and backing work in, on a loose rein, and did alright. It was when I finally picked up the reins and asked for some give that we started having issues. She was just hanging on the bit, not being responsive at all. So we tried to work on some bending and suppling stuff. She was not getting any lighter. She seemed stiff and unresponsive. Since I was in a hurry I was only concerned with fixing it, "winning" and going home. So the fight began.

The more I tried to get her to give, the more she resisted. And the more she got jacked up. Fast forward a bit to our loping and she doesn't even respond when I ask her to stop. She doesn't respond when I tell her to stop. I demand it, she runs thru it. I keep demanding, eventually pulling her in a very tight circle, which she eventually accepts and comes down to a walk and eventually stops. Hmmm. We go back to stopping at the walk and trot. She does ok. She is atleast stopping, eventually. I try loping again. This time she just flat out runs. So I decide, ok Missy...you want to run, we'll run! And we ran. And ran. And ran and ran and ran and ran. In hindsight, I realize that was not a brilliant decision on my part. My knees and hips were already groaning at me from the new and decidedly uncomfortable position they were in with the chunky boots. They tend to be very sensitive and definately let me know if they are not happy. When I picked the battle of the run with Midori, they certainly made their feelings on the matter known. I spent part of the run standing half-point, or two-point, whatever it is, part of the run holding on to the horn flopping around like a fish trying to take any and all pressure off of my legs and the rest of it, kicking Midori because if she wanted to run, then dammit we were going to run! A couple times when she felt like she was slowing and might be responsive I thought about stopping and would kind of half sit. She completely ignored me, preferring to keep running, so we kept running. And running and running. Finally, after way too many laps, I knew she was tired and would be responsive so I sat down and she stopped on a dime. She was panting and dripping sweat and shaking. My legs were screaming profanities at me like I hadn't felt in a looooong time. We cooled off for a while, walking slowly around the arena on a loose rein with Midori's head very low and my feet out of the stirrups.

When I finally felt like my legs could handle a little more I got my feet back in the stirrups and picked up the reins. Midori hung on them. I could not get her off of them for nothing. Thus the third battle of the evening. I just wanted a little give. That was all I was asking for. The second she would have done that, I would have dropped the reins and gotten off for the night! It was already past the time that I had wanted to be loaded up and gone. I wasn't going to win this one. Finally, I got the slightest response out of her and I was done. That was all I had. I knew I was getting really frustrated and it was coming out in my riding. That's just not fair and doesn't accomplish anything. I was sitting there, going over our disastrous ride in my head and noticed that Midori's head was still bent around to the right and she was yawning. Had been for quite a while. I watched her for a minute and she kept yawning and moving her head oddly. I wondered if she might be collicking or something because she may have been looking around at her belly, but it didn't seem like that was what it was. There was definately something bothering her though.

Then it all came crashing down on me. She wasn't being a jerk the whole time, she was trying to tell me that she hurt. I felt like the biggest jackass ever. Looking back over our ride, the signs where there the whole time. She never felt off at all, still wasn't, but she sure was sore. Something was hurting her. She had problems rolling back, she was tripping over herself, not springing out of it like she usually does. She was hanging on the bit the whole night. She was having a hard time bending. And the running thing, like she used to when I first got her, resisting the bit. I should have seen that she was just trying to tell me she was hurting, not misbehaving. She doesn't misbehave like that. And all the battles I picked with her, they just made the problem worse. I totally suck sometimes. I had just been too preoccupied to notice.

She did get new shoes the night before, I wonder if that had anything to do with it or if the issue existed before that. I wouldn't ever blame the shoer, he's great, but sometimes it's the little things that tweak your alignment and wreak havoc on your body. Like chunky soled boots instead of...not chunky soled boots when you're riding. She had seemed ouchy and slightly unwilling to pick up her front right foot. I guess I need to scrounge up some dough to have the chiropractor out for her. She's never needed any major adjustments, but I have never felt like the appointment was wasted either. Anything that makes her more comfortable and can set my mind at ease that she is physically able to perform the way I'm asking her to is worth it.

Moral of this story: if I can't ride patiently and concentrate on my horse and what I'm doing, then I really shouldn't be there!

Reading

Have you ever read a book that is so good that it practically consumes you? Even after you finish it? A book that is so, so good that you seriously consider calling in sick to work so that you can just read until you finish the whole entire series? A book that is so enthralling that you don't even notice you haven't eaten all day? Or peed all day? A book that you can read while sitting 10 feet away from a blaring tv, next to your significant other who keeps talking to you and still not miss a beat? A book that you think about all day, while you should be doing things like actually earning your paycheck instead of scouring the internet for anything that will get you a little fix, because you haven't read any of it in almost 24 hours?

I have loved books before, had trouble putting them down, stayed up til midnight (or later) reading until I was finished or spent a whole entire weekend in bed/on the couch/floor, etc. reading. Most of that was when I was still in school and didn't have a million other pressing things that needed to be done. Not in my recent adult life has it happened. The closest I've come was The DaVinci Code, closely followed by Angels and Demons (both by Dan Brown). Those books were really, really good. But I don't remember needing them. I sure as heck finished them up as quickly as I could, but things like eating, sleeping, peeing and working didn't get put on hold for them. I don't remember being consumed by them all day when I couldn't read them. I don't remember dreaming about them. Still haven't watched the movie though. I have no desire to watch the movie. I generally like reading the book better. Any movie that I have seen after reading the book always, ALWAYS disappoints. They leave things out, the characters are never as I'd pictured them and generally, what I come up with in my imagination while I read the book, is way better.

This book is different. I'm still not entirely sure how I got started on this series. I know I'd heard a couple of friends mention it, but I didn't really think a whole lot of it. Until I happened across it one day at the grocery store on it's own special rack, marked 40% off. Love the 40% off signs! I figured, why the heck not?!? I had just bought two other books to read in another series that I was enjoying, but figured how often am I going to find it 40% off? I'm not usually the kind of person to pile books up that I want to read. I've usually only got maybe 1 book waiting for me. Everything about the way I got into this mess is so completely out of character for me! I'm not the worlds fastest or most dedicated reader. Unless a book is really, really good, I have no problem leaving it half finished on my nightstand for a couple weeks or a month if I get busy. But I do always finish one book before I start on another. I've never been the type of person to have more then one book going at a time. And I've also never read a book more then once. Unless it was for school, or one of the bedtime stories that I read with my mom as a kid, but those are different.

Anyways, I bought the book, 40% off, took it home and dove into it that night (Sunday). It started off a little slow, didn't really suck me in for about the first half of it, but I did really enjoy the writing style. I left it alone for a few days, while I was busy. Tuesday I ran into one of the people I had heard mention it. I knew she was rather obsessed with it, but I still wasn't under it's spell so I mostly blew it off when she warned me. And boy did she warn me. She told me (repeatedly) that it's CRACK! It's unbelievable addicting, don't do it! She said it's deceiving. It starts out slow and then all of a sudden you're hooked, like crack! I figured, eh, it's just a book. I can quit any time.

I left it alone for a couple more days, finally picking it back up on Thursday. Suddenly, it was late. Really late. And I had to pee. And I had to absolutely tear myself away from the book. It was pure torture. My mind was still going a mile a minute thinking about it, it took me quite a while to fall asleep. The next morning I confessed to my friend. It was crack. I now understood. But alas, it was too late for me. I was already hooked. I thought about it most of Friday at work, wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into. Little did I know, that was only the beginning. Friday night I told the boyfriend that if we were really going to ride after work, then he could not let me near the book when I got home! I was allowed inside to change and then I was to load up! I had a great ride (see previous post), but I was anxious to get home so I could read more the whole time. As soon as we got home I was inside, changing into jammies and parking myself on the bed to read. I was able to put it down to get some sleep, but it was tough.

Saturday morning I some how managed to leave it alone long enough to go to the show, but you can bet I was thinking about it the whole entire time I was there! When we finally got home after the show, I was inside on the couch in comfy clothes before the boyfriend had even finished putting his horse away. That's where I stayed the rest of the day until I had finished it.

Now, you might think that finishing the book would release me from it's grip. Not so much! You see, there isn't just one book. There is four. And I've heard rumor of a 5th one, covering the same time period as the first book, but from a different perspective. Oh lord, help me. Can I just crawl in a hole for the next week or so, until I can finish all of them? Please? I really am not going to be any good to any one until I do finish them all, maybe not even for a while after that. Guess it depends on how they really finish up.

So this book, this evil, addicting book, is Twilight. The Twilight Saga, by Stephenie Meyers. There is a movie coming out next week, but you know me and movies based on books. I'm not so interested in seeing it when it comes out, unless I can finish all of the books before then. For some reason, I have a feeling that I might like this movie. But I'll probably atleast wait until it comes out on dvd. Maybe.

I have only read the first book so far, so I can only speak from the experience of the one. I have been told that the addiction only gets worse though. Again, this book is so out of character for me. It's based on kids in high school. In involves vampires. It is set in Forks, Washington, which isn't all that far away from me. Now that I am an adult (lol, I still can't hardly say that without laughing hysterically) I just don't see the appeal of a story about high school kids. I am not particularly fond of my high school days and regret that I was ever a teenager sometimes (man I was just dumb sometimes!) I've never been a very big fan of vampires or any stories about them. Generally, stories that are set in areas that I know, even vaguely, are wildy inaccurate and just bug the crap out of me. I would rather read about some fictitious location or one that I know nothing about so I couldn't tell you if it were accurate or not.

Most of the main characters in this book hardly seem like high school kids to me. Other then them being in classes, they act like they could be my age! They are intriguing and mature. The vampires are your typical blood-sucking "monsters", but different. They have more depth to them and they are (mostly) protrayed in a very non-monster-y light. I love it. As for the setting...apparently Forks, WA's newest tourist attraction is Twilight tours of actual places mentioned in the books! Plus, everything she describes in the books just sounds so northwest. Especially recently, with all the clouds and rain that we've had. It's just easy to imagine the whole thing happening here.

And then there is the writing style. Oh, the writing style! I do love the way Stephenie Meyers writes. She writes with so much detail and feeling. It is written from Isabella's point of view and I swear, you can just jump right into her shoes and totally engross yourself in the story. You can just feel the emotion in everything. The warmth from some characters, the sting of a snotty high school attitude, the pain and confusion. (Yes, I'm being vague on purpose) I also love the way she developes characters and hints at things to come and keeps other things a mystery.

So, in conclusion, if you haven't read this book yet, DO IT! But don't say I didn't warn you. It'll hook you, just when you think you're safe. If you have already read it, then you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. I was warned, it is crack, and I dove in anyways.