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OK…let’s get this started with a “review” of the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon!!
Outlander is the first of the series, followed by Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, and The Fiery Cross. The next installment in the series, Breath of Snow and Ashes is newly published and in stores now and, incidentally, at the top of my “must read” list!
Basically this is a time travel/historical romance series. Both genres are favorites of mine! The heroine is Claire Beauchamp Fraser and the hero is Jamie Fraser, a Scottish Laird. The novels, which are long, averagine over 1000 pages each, chronicle their lives, their love and their tragedies. The journey begins prior to the Battle of Culloden, a major turning point in Scottish history and follows our heroes into Colonial America (and probably beyond – I haven’t finished Fiery Cross).
I originally began this series based on the recommendation of a classmate during nursing school. The heroine is a nurse and there are many references to ancient remedies and treatments that are facinating to me as a nurse. It has been quite a journey.
My historical knowlege has been expanded – even though I’ve had to look up a ton of stuff to get the whole story. I have even learned about my own family’s heritage (we have Scot’s blood in us) and even about some of the traditions my family loves (did you know the Bar-B-Que North Carolina is famous for has its roots in the Scottish Highlands?!?!).
Bottomline – I highly recommend this series! I’ve read nearly 5,000 pages and can’t wait to read more!

The almighty Miguelito himself has helped me to add “Currently Reading” and “other books” to my blog!
Check it out! My intention (as in, don’t hold your breath) is to post reviews of the books I am reading/have read. Clicking on the book will link you to it’s Amazon.com page.
Happy reading!

It’s HOT! (89 degrees indoors)
My favorite website is down!! I’ve been sitting her with the fans on – directly on me…trying to keep cool and playing Yahoo! Games…all day long!! Pathetic!
The kids can’t seem to find anything to do either. They’ve become blobs in the heat. The TVs were on, but I told them to turn ’em off. “Go outside,” I said, “it’s cooler out there.” “AW MOOOOOOM!” was their collective reply. Eventually they did all find *something* to do.
The youngest got very busy – and very quiet. For those of you who do not have small children, quiet child = they are doing something bad/wrong/dangerous. I discovered my beloved 7 year-old making “frozen stuff”. Let me clarify…he was freezing wet papertowels, paper cups of ice, and waterballoons. *SIGH* His sister, apparently had shown him how to make the waterballoons to freeze. These “activities” explained the small puddles of water throughout the house.
The middle kid (and his buddy who’d spent the night) went “outside”. It turns out, however, that they had gone out to the garage and turned on the TV in there…hahaha they fooled me! NOT!
Oldest kid was MISERABLE. She recently lost “all privileges”: TV, phone, computer, etc. Long story short – no lies, no picking fights, no sneaking “forbidden” things up to your room. Homey don’t play dat! She was bored to tears today. One would think that this would leave a lasting impression on her young mind. I’m not holding my breath.
To make a hot day even hotter – our central heating unit decided to kick on and blow air?!?! The thermostat reads “89” as the indoor temp. The heater is on hold and the low temp for the heat to kick on is set at “62”. I have NO IDEA why the dang thing was running, but it was. We finally unplugged the darn thing! I just pray this doesn’t mean it’s busted – cuz that would suck!
I did have one “must do” on my agenda today – close out my payroll. Every other Friday is payday and the opposite Fridays are “payroll approval” days. We have to approve it and close it out by midnight Sunday according to the employee handbook, but the manager wants it done by Saturday at the latest. Fine. We enter our times every night via telephone entry. I checked the totals…an entire day was missing!!! Grrrrr! Luckily it was easy to figure out which day and re-enter it (I had already entered the darn thing – but whatever!). This is precisely why I keep a copy of my time sheets!! It would suck to be shorted moola because the stewpid computer messed up!
This being said…I GUARANTEE someone will not do their payroll check and we will all be lectured on the importance of being a responsible adult on Tuesday in our weekly meeting. As far a I am concerned, considering we ARE all adults, if someone doesn’t do it – screw ’em – they won’t get paid. How many times do you think they’ll forget before they get the idea?!