A Time For Everything

Frankenstein on the stage. Well, sort of...

All y'all know how much of a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch I am right? Yeah. So in 2011 he did a three month run of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Ben and Johnny Lee Miller switched roles between the doctor and the creature daily!


Anyway, I'd been wanting to see the performance, but the National Theater in England said they had no intention of issuing the performance to DVD. I was definitely disappointed by that news. BUT THEN, I got an email saying that there was going to be an encore theater showing (the fourth one actually) of the play and I didn't hesitate to buy a ticket right then and there.

So in October, I will see my celebrity crush pulling off yet another--what I'm sure will be--brilliant performance.

 I have a brand spanking new Lenovo tablet. I love my iPad, but the sweet thing is so old it won't upgrade to the latest operating system and therefore I can't download any new apps or update some of the others I have.

On this new tablet, I have access to all my various email accounts, all kinds of TV show watching apps, as well as my social media sites. Plus there's a camera and an FM radio! Too cool.


In addition to my new tablet, my new I-survived-running-my-chapter's-writing-contest reward also arrived. Last year, I bought myself this...which I still have and still use. But it's a little large. Though great for traveling as I discovered last fall while visiting Sonshine at boot camp.


My reward this year, in honor of a new fandom love, I got this...



Yep--a purse made out of a book. :) I'm so terribly excited. Sometimes a gal just needs to let her fan girl tendencies run amok.

That pattern there, on the second picture, it's the pattern of the wallpaper in the BBC's Sherlock 221B set!! How cool is that?? Can't wait to show it off.

Look what I got!!!!!! Fan girl swoon moment, let me tell you--




I have a dear friend named Janie Crouch--we're online writing buddies. But we're also Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch fan girls. We seem to be the only two in our shared circle of friends and I can't tell how fun it is to gush over the show, the characters, and fan fiction.

Recently, Janie moved to Germany as her husband got transferred there for his job... And since she was so close to London when the Sherlocked convention took place, she was lucky enough to be able to go.

She graciously sent me the autographed production stills of these two since she actually had her picture taken with them both. (I'm sooo jealous.)

They have been suitably framed and are hanging and spare nails in the dining corner of the kitchen for the time being...



As a way of thanking Janie, I'm sharing the fact that Janie has a new book out--Untraceable from Harlequin. So if you read romantic suspense, take a chance and buy her book.

If you saw this on FB, my apologies, but I'm so excited --

According to TVShowsonDVD via an e-mail this morning, the TV show China Beach should be officially released on DVD on 2013. The big hold-up for all these years, I'm pretty sure, were music rights since the show used a lot of music from the late Sixties.

How many of you remember that show?? How many of you loved it???

Oh my gosh! This is awesome! I can't wait!

Okay, well it's Friday, too, so that's good.

And it's almost Christmas. Let's continue our countdown!



A staple of Christmas is undoubtedly Christmas music. From classic hymns such as Ave Maria to more contemporary hit likes Christmas Cookies by country music legend George Strait, there is a song in a favorite genre for everyone. And because it's unrealistic for me to expect you to listen to my blog for half and hour or so, I'll include a song a day for the rest of the countdown. How's that?

Several years ago, I finally broke down and ordered one of Time-Life's Treasury of Christmas CDs which has most of my favorites on it, so that's what I usually listen to. I also had a cheapo CD from the grocery store of the some boys choir, I think the Vienna Boys Choir, but I can't remember because it's gone missing. Anyway, that treble range of the younger voices gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes almost no matter what the song.

So to start off us, the American Boys Choir singing my favorite of favorites, O Holy Night.



What is your favorite Christmas song?

My first fellow Robin Hood fan girl arrived last night, and we went to eat at a local BBQ joint--awesome brisket--and then spent the evening chatting and sharing life stories and talking about writing. (She's pursuing publication also.)

The rest of our peeps should be arriving in another two hours or so and then the real fun will begin.

In keeping this short and getting back to my house guest, we'll get straight to the final installment of...

The Twelve Days of Jen

On Wednesday I said I had only one gift left to share, but I lied. I realized just last night that there was one more gift that I'd forgotten to mention or even get a picture of. That has been rectified and so I share with you the last two gifts.

Firstly, the one I'd forgotten: new dishes: twelve place settings for a mere $100 and no useless saucers.



Remember back in April or so, I posted about my Revereware kettle that was on its last legs:


I did tell my family that I absolutely was getting a new one as one of my birthday/Mother's Day gifts. They were all so excited to see my reaction when I opened it, but it was rather anti-climactic, I thought, since I knew I was getting it.


Regardless of the lack of surprise (the set of HP books was a real surprise), I was thrilled to get it. :)


I've shared all my cool gifts and now I'm off to have fun with my friends. Have a great weekend and see you on Monday.

So I have fifteen followers now. How cool is that? Okay, so I know a lot of people have way more than that, but I'm always tickled when I see a new one. Hey, Lara!!

Fan girl meet ups are imminent!!

This weekend is my JAG meetup. Tonight is dinner (leaving at 2 today to go early and visit), tomorrow is hanging out at someone's house and visiting some more. I've changed my mind about going. These are my friends and I only get to see most of them once a year. So I'm going to go and hang out and have fun. (After I run some errands in the morning.)

I know there's a parallel here to my family whom I'm terribly bad about keeping in regular communication with. (Hi Mom.) I know, I know. Really, I do. One of these days, I'm gonna do better. I swear.

Next weekend will be Robin Hood meetup. Other folks have met up in twos and threes so I think this will be the largest gathering--there will be five of us. One will be coming from Minnesota, one from Colorado, one from Kansas, and one from southern Texas. Two will fly, two will drive.

I'm just thankful they agreed to come here this time as I wouldn't have been able to justify the expense of going somewhere else to meet people I'd never met before. And since they are coming here, the least I can do is pay for the food. I'm also putting together goodie bags for one and all to remember our time together. I need a few more things for those bags, but I'm running out of time. Time to brainstorm.

In preparation for the RH meetup at my house, I have been busy cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I normally clean this time of year anyway while the men are gone, but because strangers are coming, I've amped it up just a bit to include things I might not normally do. Like clean the ceiling fans and the windows (just certain ones). Clean out the fridge. Mop all the floors. Cut down the dead hedges. (That may fall by the wayside, though.) Anyway...you get the idea.

As I was cleaning last night, I came across a picture of Marching Band Boy.  During UIL competitions, there's a photography company that moves amongst the kids while they're on the field and captures images of them. Then you can go online later and look for your kid and buy copies. I've bought a mug the past two years as well. By the time he's done with high school, I hope I'll have a set of four. :) Any how, I came across a picture and my heart just swelled right up. In case you're new here, I brag about my son a lot. I love my daughters, I really do. But my son...he's something else. Yeah, he's sixteen. A typical teenage boy, not wanting to do his school work and copping an attitude and everything else that goes with that age and gender. I know that, I acknowledge that. But he's so awesome. So here he is (though not the UIL photo as I don't have a scanner.):








And now to wrap this up, another installment of the Twelve Days of Jen. We're getting close to being finished now...

A candle warmer lantern...


The one with the candle I got for Christmas and I thought a pair would be nice. The light bulb is not powerful enough to melt the candle all the way through like the other candle warmers you can buy that heat from the bottom up, but it provides a nice little light in the kitchen at night so that I don't have to turn on the big fluorescent light every time I want a drink of water. But I think I'm going to find some decorative wall bracket/plant hangar thingies and hang them in my writing room.

And that does it for this week! Happy Friday and see you back here bright and early Monday!!

Whew, I'm tuckered out. But I feel so accomplished. :)

Yesterday, DD and I spent the afternoon doing yard work.

First we made two trips to the dump; first trip was to haul all the trash from the office/warehouse that I'd bagged; second trip was a bit more we couldn't get the first trip from the office and then the small pallets, the broken awning frame, some scrap wood and the cardboard box that the new shed came in from the back yard.

After that, we ate lunch and caught our breath. Then we were off to home to tackle the front and side yards.

I worked on the holly and got it trimmed back somewhat. I did, however, come to the conclusion that it'll be much easier to A) clear out all the dead leaves underneath it, and B) shape it and keep it shaped nicely, if I get a chain saw and cut the individual bushes back to their main trunks and start from scratch. Some of the off-shoots were too thick for the hedge trimmer to cut, so it looks a bit misshapen. On the other hand, it looks 100% better and the holly no longer tries to poke you when you walk up the ramp. :)

DD did all the edging of the curbs and driveway and all the mowing. I bagged all the hedge trimmings and monkey grass and magnolia leaves--we have nine bags of leaves, trimmings, and grass! And that was just the front and side yards.

We still have a few tasks to do in the front, but it looks soooooo much better. I have my lists and have crossed off some tasks and added a couple more.

Today will be recuperation day. Neither DD or I are used to so much physical exertion in a single afternoon.

Can't wait to continue...!

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II twice this weekend. I loved it just as much the second time as the first. I caught a few more minor things during the second watch that I didn't realize were interesting or important on the first watch because I was so excited and mind-boggled the first time 'round. And, yes, I'll be seeing it again with a friend as she hasn't seen it yet. I may break my record of seeing the same movie in a theater more than once. It's currently at three for Star Trek 2009.

The movie stuck with the book pretty darn close. It's been a few months since I read it, but as far as I can tell and from what I've heard, they didn't change much. Of course they had to leave some stuff and out and gloss over a few things due to time constraints, but that was to be expected.

Loved, loved, loved it!!

So . . . Friday, Sonshine and the HS band left on their band trip. First stop was the Texas state capitol building, where, after a tour of the building and watching the state legislature convene, the kids played a 30-minute concert on the south steps.

I decided to drive down there to see them. Pics and video of that will be up tomorrow. :)

That was really exciting. It was.

But today I'm going fan girl squee and share silly pics of my side trip to Pflugerville where parts of one of my favorite TV shows (Friday Night Lights) were filmed.

Picture 01: The exit sign on I-35 northbound


Picture 02: We've left I-35 and are on FM 1825. Four miles to Pflugerville. While I was prepared to enjoy some scenery on a longer drive, I was quite glad that it ended up not being too much of a detour.


Picture 03: The stadium sign...even though I was playing hooky from work, it completely slipped my mind that it was a school day and that I probably shouldn't have been on campus. However, the school parking lot and stadium were right off the street, so I snuck in, took a couple of quick pictures and then got back on the road home.

Picture 04: The stands that are featured during the football game sequences--the show was also able to use Pflugerville football game footage as their own.