Yes! I'm alive! I've just been in a ho-hum kinda mood and not really been motivated enough to blog about it. But things have happened, so there's much to talk about.

First, the current worry on our plate: Elijah Benjamin (second from left in the banner at the top of the page), fell from the dining room table yesterday at about 15:30 hours. He's been unable to walk on his left hind leg since then. We had a "fear evacuation" (bowels and bladder empty NOW!, sorry for the TMI) that scared us 'cause it looked like there was blood in it. He's been cooped up in a smaller single-level cage, laying in a cuddle cup with fleece blankets. He can't quite get into the litter box 'cause that back leg is not working.

The pet sling I bought on Etsy has really come in handy---either Randy or I have been cradling Elijah almost non-stop, with several hours spent in the cuddle cup yesterday afternoon and three hours last night. (Yes, I'm running on 3 hours sleep right now!)

We can't get to the "exotic" vet until 15:00 hours today---almost 24 hours after the initial trauma. There's a bruise on the knee of his left hind leg. I can't feel any breaks (but there's a reason I didn't major in medicine: squeamish!).

While worrying about Elijah, I have other things on my mind: moving! I want to go home. This year. Before the March blooming of the citrus trees!

We're job hunting, which is no fun considering the economic condition of America in general. But what I think is pretty gosh-darn cool is that Randy has such a good relationship with his current boss that he(Randy) can talk to him(boss) about the job hunt. When we were courted by LucasFilm, Randy talked to him(boss) about it. Why didn't we take that job? Two reasons: ferrets are illegal in California and they offered a decent salary....if you didn't live in the Bay area (where the freaking job was!).

I'm ashamed (now) to admit that we actually considered trying to live in California with ferrets. I mean, isn't keeping ferrets the worst-kept secret in the state? Well, after reading this (warning: annoying pink background!), I can't ever consider living in California, as long as ferrets are illegal.

So, we're job-hunting for a computer/geek/nerd...ahem, "Software Engineer" position that isn't sucking Bill Gates....er...well, yeah. That. My geek is a Unix geek. A Linux geek. A real geek. *wink*

In the meantime, I'm trying to kick up the "let's pack what we're not using" campaign, all the while asking, "If we're not using it, do we need to keep it?" The last move (January 2005, when gas prices weren't already at $3 a gallon (though they had come close a couple of times)) cost us almost seven thousand dollars. Figure that again (plus some), add the cost of gas for us to drive west, the deposits on the new place, any fees on the old place.....you can see how throwing out stuff we just don't use could start making a difference!

For that reason, allow me to highlight a couple relevant posts from 2007. There was the Bead Destash, the Czech glass destash, the Jewelry Book destash, the Cross-Stitch destash....and I still have way too much stuff (despite my Mom buying $100 worth of yarn off me! Thanks, Mom!). Save me from having to pack this stuff! Help me pay for ferret medical bills! Buy my stuff, please! if you know someone who would be interested, point them my way, post on your blog about this de-stash... It's now a double-duty destash: less to move and money to fix Elijah up, whatever the problem is!

In other news....Oh....I'm such a dork. (No, that's not the news, just the preface to the news!) I found out that I could put way-cool progress bars up on my blog, from Ravelry. Casey, the resident code-monkey who makes Ravelry all that it is, put forth the script we needed to use. Those who are testing it paste the code into their blog and....like magic, progress bars.

Uh, where's mine? I see the block I put the code in. No progress bars. I looked at other sites. See, their bars work... what's wrong with mine? I mean, I want you to be able to see the progress on the WIPs I have over on Ravelry. Projects like.....oh. Maybe that's why I don't have any bars: I don't have any WIPs listed on Ravelry! Doh!

Here I thought it'd be so cool---I wouldn't have to do anything to my block code to update my progress bars....just update my project on Ravelry and again with the magic. Except that I'm apparently as lazy getting my projects into Ravelry as I was getting them on my own "On the Needles..." block. *sigh*

I've got to be ready to go at 14:00 hours so we can take Elijah to the veteranarian. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Maybe I should go cat-nap before then?

I used to have a LibraryThing widget on the right on my blog, to show off the titles in my library. I forget now why I removed it---something wasn't working quite right. Anyway, I signed up to become an Early Reviewer and received an advance copy of "Chosen" by P. C. and Kristin Cast. What follows is my first review.

A word of...not warning, so much as information: I'm used to reading author's works-in-progress and doing deep line-level critiques and reviews. I'm actually new to doing lighter "overall reaction" type reviews. So, please comment on my reviews. What should I have mentioned that I didn't? What information do you depend on when deciding to purchase a book? I'll try to come back and add any information requested as long as it doesn't break the following vow:

Spoiler-free Review: I've made every effort to review the quality of this book without revealing the story. This is not a *summary* but what I think of this book.

And now, the actual review:

Title: Chosen
Author(s): P. C. and Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

This is the third book in the "House of Night" series. While it *could* stand alone, I believe the prior books ("Marked", "Betrayed") establish the world and Zoey's relationships with the people around her and therefore add fullness to this book.

This book is written for a Young Adult audience but I think some of the plotting is pretty obvious. That's not to say it's *bad*, just...."I saw that coming"...

I've enjoyed the books in this series--Zoey isn't an amazing superhero who always has the answers or does the right thing. I like that about her. She makes bad choices and tries to live with the results of those choices.

My only complaint in this series is the almost simple "aimed at teens" language and plotting. Teen writing doesn't have to be dumb, just interesting to teens. I don't count in that category (hitting 38 in February 2008), but I've read other teen fiction which I felt was less predictable and more complex of a read (Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series comes to mind here).

Potential readers should be aware there is some sexual content in this book.

My only regret in reviewing an advance copy is this: it's that much longer until the *next* book in the series comes out!