The Darkest Tool

I recently finished reading The Darkest Tool by Gerald Barnes. While this isn't normally the type of book I would read, I was immediately captivated by the writing. The book tells the story of Jonathan Night, a young man who has been thrust into the middle of the battle between angels and demons, God and Lucifer. For everything that seems to go well in his life, there is always some darkness following closely behind. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if these occurrences are a result of his own choices or if someone is making him do things he wouldn't otherwise do.

Despite thoroughly enjoying the book, there are a few down sides. There are quite a few spelling errors. (For example, 'barley' instead of 'barely.') Also, there are a few confusingly slow parts in the last third of the book. However, neither of these are terrible enough to ruin the book as a whole. (And I think you all know what a stickler I am for spelling.) If you are willing to look past the book's flaws, I think you, too, will find a great story with interesting characters.  

This is a sponsored post. All opinions contained in this post are honest reviews from my brain and do not reflect the views of anyone else. 

Projects to finish this month

I almost always have a ton of half-finished projects waiting for me to finish them. Sometimes it is because I have lost interest but sometimes it is simply an issue of time. This list will consist of everything I have to finish, even though I may not have the time to finish all of them.

1. Chalkboards - My sister wants me to make some chalkboards for her wedding. I haven't been able to find the appropriate shapes that she wants (arrows) so I have to do a little more searching. If I can find the materials, I can definitely finish this in time.

2. Jewelry - I sell children's jewelry at craft shows. My fall shows start in October. While I have a decent amount of jewelry already made, I have a few more pieces I'd like to finish before my first show of the season.

3. Craft/Taping Room - I tape my YouTube videos in my crafting room. Like most of my house, there aren't any decorations on the walls. I'd like to get a couple pieces of artwork or something to hang on the wall behind me. The bareness in the videos kinda annoys me.

4. Writing - I always have writing projects on the back burner. I definitely need to work on some of those.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with tons of stuff waiting for me!

If I had an extra hour in the day

Oh boy! What a topic! For day 3, the writing prompt asks what I would do with an extra hour in the day. I kinda think everyone would like one of those.

I would love to say that I would do something productive. I could always use more time to write or work on my YouTube videos.  Or I could spend some more quality time with my family. Now that school is back in session, we don't get a lot of "Us" time.

However, I know the reality. I would spend that extra hour sleeping. I honestly never get enough sleep. A mom's job is never done, right? And if I wasn't sleeping, I'd probably be watching television. Sometimes the brain just needs to be shut off for awhile. We don't have to spend every hour of every day doing something productive and amazing. It's OK to spend a little bit of time maxin' and relaxin'. Just make sure it isn't TOO much time.

I can't pass up

For Day Two of 30 Days of Lists, the subject is I Can't Pass Up. I have quite a few things I can't pass up.

1. Pitch Perfect - this movie is so awesome, I absolutely have to watch it whenever it is on. Aca-Awkward!

2. Sushi - If it is a menu option, that is what I am picking.

3. Craft supplies - I should be banned from Michael's and Joanne's.

4. Animals in need - This is how we ended up with 3 dogs, a cat, 2 chinchillas, a bird, and too many fish to count.

5. Chocolate - You can never have too much chocolate, right?

And I am sure there are way, way more items I could add to this list. What are the things that you can't pass up?

Today is brought to you by...

I have decided to do the 30 Days of Lists for September. Let's see if we'll get some fresh ideas up in here! 

Day #1:

Today is brought to you by...

1. Labor Day! It is Labor Day here in the United States, which signals the unofficial end of summer. Kids are heading back to school, pools are starting to close, and there is a bit more traffic on the roads. While I do get the day off from the day job, summer ending is a sad time for me. I really do hate winter.

2. Star Trek movie marathon! SyFy is airing a Star Trek movie marathon today. I believe it is supposed to be every Star Trek movie ever. My husband has already turned it on. Star Trek: The Motion Picture has been my morning.

3. YouTube! I will be recording a few videos for my YouTube channel. Right now, I have about 5 videos I need to get done, though they don't all have to be done today. If I can get three done, I'll be good for the rest of the week.

4. Laundry and Naps! Since the work week starts again tomorrow, I will need to do the family's laundry today. I hate doing laundry. Only naps make it better. Load of laundry - nap - load of laundry. Naps are always awesome. 

How about you? What are your Labor Day plans? Picnics? One last pool jaunt? Shout it out!

Now on Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

The best intentions

Man, I started to get back into the groove of blogging then BAM. I want to blame summer but I think the crux of the problem is that I'm still figuring out how to balance blogging and vlogging. I still want to keep all of the subscription box stuff over on YouTube because I think it is easier to talk about the products "in person" instead of textually. However, it leaves me with few things to talk about here.

But I'm not going to stop blogging. Not at all. I love writing. I just have to find something I want to write about.

There is another Month of Lists coming up in September, which I was not planning on participating in this time. Perhaps I should rethink that. Perhaps I will do the Month of Lists in (another) attempt to find my voice here.

Somewhat thankfully, school will be starting once again next week so it is possible that I will have plenty to talk about then. I can do this!

Rest In Peace, Robin Williams

Originally, I was not planning on writing a tribute to Mr. Williams. I tend to view death in a different light than most people so I generally choose to stay quiet when beloved members of society pass from this world. However, there were words banging around in my head that begged to come out. And so they shall.

Like most people in my generation, I feel like I grew up with Mr. Williams. He was Popeye (even though it was a terrible movie), he was Mork, he was comedy.

While most people knew him from his movies or television appearances, I knew him from his stand-up. I watched "An Evening At The Met" when I was way too young to be watching such performances. (I was 10 or something.) But I loved it. When I was older, I searched out his other performances. "Off The Wall" is brilliant, despite being obviously driven by a cocaine addiction. He, along with other comedic geniuses like Steve Martin, Howie Mandel, and George Carlin, shaped my childhood. They got me through the tough parts.

It is unfortunate that the funniest people suffer from such tragedies. Depression, addiction, mental illness. These are things that aren't always noticeable on the outside. And people aren't always comfortable talking about it. But we, as a society, must. Please, if you suffer from depression (no, not just "I'm sad" - actual depression), seek help. People will help if you speak up. All you have to do is say the word.

So, thank you, Mr. Williams. Thank you for giving us the gift of laughter. Thank you for being a brilliant actor. Thank you for existing. May your next life bring you peace.

Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

My family went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire on Sunday. We have been going to the Faire for the past couple of years but I don't think we usually go in August. I believe most of our visits are in September and October. However, change is afoot at Mount Hope and not all of it is good.

The main reason we went to the Faire this particular weekend is that it was Time Travelers weekend. That is when all of the fun Doctor Who and steampunk costumes come out in full force. This year there was a full-sized TARDIS at the Shire. (My husband took a picture.) It is definitely one of the more interesting weekends to people-watch.

Actually, this is one of the changes this year. Generally, Time Travelers weekend is later in the season. Usually the weekend or two after Children's Weekend, which has traditionally fallen on Labor Day weekend. This year Labor Day weekend is held for Heroes of the Realm, where they honor active military, police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and veterans. Children's Weekend will be the weekend after Labor Day. It isn't a huge change but it did put us in the Shire a bit earlier this year. Luckily, the heat didn't kill us.

On the disappointing side of things, the schedule (or Writ, as they call it) was a little disappointing. Our favorite Faire act, Fool Hearty, was there and they were awesome, as always. However, a couple of the other acts we enjoy aren't on the performance list for this season. We know that the entertainers change every year so we are OK with that. But then a couple of the other shows we like to watch were inconveniently timed against the Fool Hearty shows. (For example, the Who's Jest show that my daughter enjoys was running at the exact same time as Fool Hearty's Untrained Dog Show.) We will be back at the Faire later in the season so, hopefully, we'll be able to catch some of the other shows...even if it means having to miss our absolute favorites.

Another big change at the Faire is the royalty. For the past 33 years, the Faire centered around Queen Elizabeth I. This year the focus is on King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon. We don't usually go to many of the storyline shows, mostly because they are packed with people, but we definitely saw Henry walking around much more often than Elizabeth did. I can't say that the change had a large impact on our enjoyment of the Faire but I do have to say that it was nice to mix it up a bit.

I am very much looking forward to the rest of the season. It is quite likely that we won't return until the Halloween weekends, which are our favorite, but we will definitely be back.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal began streaming on July 5, 2014. It airs (with English subtitles) every other Saturday on Hulu Plus, Crunchyroll, and Neon Alley. Since we already had the subscription, I have been watching it on Hulu.

For those that don't know, I am a pretty big fan of Sailor Moon. The original series aired here in the United States when I was in high school. I watched every episode voraciously. I loved that the girls were the main characters with the powers to destroy the bad guys, who were also led by a female. Even though it has been 20 years since Sailor Moon first aired, there still aren't that many "Girl Power" shows where females lead the way. I think the closest we come is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and, while that is a very awesome show, it doesn't quite fall under the same category as magical girls or female superheroes. More Wonder Woman, less Avengers.

Anyway, I did start watching the new series as soon as it premiered. There have been three episodes so far and I am very happy with the way it has turned out. Some people have issues with a few things and I would like to address them:

1. I don't like the artwork.

Those fans that are only familiar with the original Sailor Moon anime may find the new artwork unappealing. However, the new series is more closely based off the manga. While the new visuals may look a little odd to most people, they are definitely closer to the original visuals in the manga. Personally, I like the new looks a bit better but I have always been partial to the artbooks over the anime series.

2. I liked the old filler episodes.

Since the new series is following the manga storyling, a lot of the filler episodes have been removed. For example - In the original series, Luna discovers Sailor Moon in the first episode but doesn't discover the second scout, Sailor Mercury, until episode 5 in the English dub. (It is episode 8 in the original Japanese series.) In Crystal, Sailor Mercury is discovered in the second episode. This follows the exact timeline of the manga. While some of the old filler episodes will be missed (goodbye Alan and Ann!), the story does not suffer from removing them. I think the story will be better and stronger since we can focus more on the girls and less on the misogynistic episodes like "Slim City," where Usagi thinks she is too fat and starts heading toward an eating disorder.

Thankfully, these two issues are the only major complaints I have seen about the new show. Everyone seems to agree that, overall, it is pretty awesome. I am excited to see where the series is going to go. Supposedly, it is set up for a 26-episode arc. If they follow the manga the way they have so far, this will take them through to the end of the Black Moon storyline. I really hope that we will be able to take the story all the way through Stars as well.

Long live Sailor Moon!