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  • #LessInterestingBooks

    A few days ago I caught wind of a hastag trending on Twitter. (If that phrase meant nothing to you, let me translate: many people were talking about a topic.) The topic of the day: Less Interesting Books.

    Before you jump in thinking this blog is going to be “less interesting,” let me explain. The idea behind it was to take well-know, popular book titles and make them … well … less interesting by tweaking the title ever so slightly. At one point these were flying along my screen so fast I couldn’t read them, but I got enough to make me smile. And several that even made me laugh out loud. In honor of the brilliant men and women (who I’m afraid I can’t identify, and therefore can’t name here, but rest assured these aren’t my ideas) who came up with these, I give you my favorite #LessInterestingBooks.

    1. Of Mice
    2. Harry Potter and the Order of Takeout
    3. The Meh Gatsby
    4. Bored of the Flies
    5. A Series of Not Too Shabby Events
    6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commerce
    7. Love in the Time of Chicken Pox
    8. To Somewhat Offend a Mockingbird
    9. Minor Discomfort and Casual Resentment in Las Vegas
    10. The Grapes of Math
    11. There’s Waldo
    12. Where the Wild Things Were
    13. The Building Inspector of Oz
    14. Bossyspanx
    15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Artist Formerly Known as Prince
    16. A Drainage Ditch Runs Through It
    17. The Call of the Skittish
    18. The Second to the Last of the Mohicans
    19. Lord of the Onion Rings
    20. Farenheit 72

    I hope I’m not the only one who reads these and wonders what the books by these titles would actually be about. 🙂

    So thanks to whoever came up with the idea and all those that made it fly off my screen. I appreciate the chuckles! Hope you enjoyed them, too! What have we missed? What would you add?

    Where I’ve been …

    I’ve missed you guys! No, really … I have. This has been a crazy, busy time in my life, and guess what’s fallen off the plate? You got it! Blogging. But I’m back and ready with some super-exciting upcoming blogs. Including a giveaway! But shh … it’s a secret. I’ll tell you more about it soon.

    So for the mean time, I wanted to fill you in on the top 16 things I’ve done in the last month, many of which are inteneded to make you feel sorry for me. Let your sympathy-giving commence. 🙂
    1. Hanging out with my mom and dad. (That’s not supposed to induce sympathy.)
    2. Moving into a new house.
    3. Cleaning the old house.
    4. Writing a proposal for a new Love Inspired Suspense book.
    5. Reading emails in which my editor explains why she doesn’t like said proposal.
    6. Rewriting proposal.
    7. Traveling for work.
    8. Listening to Matt Wertz music.
    9. Training to run a 5K on July 4th. (Is this really inteneded to celebrate our country’s birthday? Really?)
    10. Reading a weird book. (Not on purpose. I thought it was going to be normal.)
    11. Reading a plumb bad book. (Also not on purpose.)
    12. Missing Castle every week.
    13. Watching Make It or Break It instead.
    14. Watching Jimmy McAvoy in his first movie in AGES.
    15. Brainstorming fun book projects with friends.
    16. Planning another trip to Prince Edward Island!

    But it’s good to be back! I’ve seen some really wonderful–and some really terrible–movies in the last month. I can’t wait to tell you about them.

    And, yes, if anyone asks, I did steal the numbered list idea from Jenny B. Jones, who happens to be my hero.

    An Ode to the PPLD

    Oh, Pikes Peak Library District,
    dear Pikes Peak Library District.
    Your kindness is incredible,
    your patience is …

    Well, okay. I’m not so good with poetry, so I’ll put an end to my terrible ode and just tell you why I love the library, specifically the one here in Colorado Springs.

    So I’ve been waiting … not patiently at all … to read a YA that came out last year. I’ve put it on my Paperback Swap wishlist, but to no avail. So I finally looked it up in my libraries online catalog. But they didn’t have it.

    Sad day.

    I was lamenting this fact to Katie the other day, and she suggested that I might try seeing if the library would order the book for me. What a novel concept. I had no idea that libraries would do that for just one patron–especially one who lost a book last year and sometimes forgets to return books on time.

    I called them, and a lovely resource librarian there put in my request for the book. And if the library decides to order it, it’ll be here in 2 months. AND it will automatically be put on my hold list when it arrives.

    Talk about excellent customer service.

    So thank you, PPLD. I will honor you by not concluding my ode until next time.

    Return of the Random Post – Toothpaste Fiasco!

    So I miss posting about random things. I got busy and haven’t been taking time lately to tell you about the really strange things goin on. But that stops today. Or more accurately, I’m stopping today. To share more than you ever wanted to know about me …

    While I wish I had the beautiful skin of my 5-year-old niece, all perfect porcelain and adorable freckles, I do not wish I had the skin of a girl half my age. But last night, that’s exactly what I got, the skin of a 14-year-old. Pimples and all. Three pimples, to be exact. On my nose, on my cheek, and my chin.

    It was the perfect trifecta of complexion bummer!

    Per my norm, I was oversharing with Amy. She suggested I put some  toothpaste on my “problem areas” to dry them out. Hmmm … I hadn’t heard of that. But I figured it couldn’t hurt, so before bed I plopped three dollops of Aquafresh on my nose, cheek, and chin.

    No problem. Until I woke up to three large blobs of toothpaste on my pillow case.

    That’s right! My dollops had morphed into blobs and spread all over my pillow. Turns out I may not be the most … hmm … demure sleeper. And I totally dirtied up my freshly laundered pillow case. Bummer.

    Oh, well. No problem, right? I figured I’d just wash it off in the shower, right? Wrong. Even hot steamy water wasn’t washing off the crusted toothpaste. It took some seriously scrubbing to finally get a clean face, an unexpected side-effect.

    And the worst part. My pimples? Oh, they’re totally still hanging around.

    Seriously considering using windex to fix my face until next time. -LJ