C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 81

TBR Shelf, In Pictures

This post is like 98% for my friend Trent, who is always trying to see what books are on the shelves in the background of my other pictures, so I thought I’d help out there. :) They are not in alphabetical order, which makes me crazy, but alphabetical order would mean theY WOUld bE ALl sorts oF differeNt sizEs and apparently I deemed that as Even More Offensive than lacking alphabetical order. So I’ve got them arranged by size. O.O

I may, however, read them in alphabetical order just to remove...

Everybody’s doing it :)

I guess if everybody else jumped off a bridge I…would totally not because I’m terrified of heights and bridges in particular give me the heebie jeebies so I’d be the one like lying on my belly in the middle of the bridge hyperventilating. Unless there were like zombies or something equally horrible on the bridge that would make jumping a more likely survival scenario than staying, although the statistics on surviving a jump off a high bridge aren’t good so I don’t know, maybe it’d be zombies...

Picoreview: Annie

Picoreview: Annie: Not as good as I hoped it would be; possibly not even quite as good as I thought it would be from the lukewarm reviews.

I wanted this film to knock it out of the park. Instead it hit maybe a double, and that’s pretty nearly literally as far as I can take a baseball analogy so I’ll stop now. O.O :)

It was reasonably cute, with a too-long running time. There were some amusing antics and a handful of lines that made me laugh aloud. It’s not a movie that would keep Young Indiana’...

To Be Read 2015

I am declaring 2015 to be Read Books By People I Know. Realistically I will, of course, read books by people I don’t know, so to make this work I think I’ll have to make every other book one by Somebody I Know.

It may take 2 years to clear my TBR shelves of books by people I know, at that rate (and that’s assuming I don’t buy any more…), but it’d be a start. :) (oh, there’s 35 of them at the moment, not counting whichever ones I’ve missed. I *could* in theory read all of those this year. Altho...

We have been Christmased. :)

Young Indiana in fact had no idea today was Christmas. He didn’t wake up until 6:50, which is the latest he’s slept in over a week. We turned the tree lights on and sent him into the living room and he gasped, “PRESENTS?!?”–

–and then immediately said “I can’t wait for my Bumblebee Optimus!” which is the one toy he has been absolutely on message about for months. And, terrible parents that we are, we’d buried it at the back so it would be the very last gift he found. :) Good thing, too, becaus...

thinks to do: the christmas list

- go to the zoo

— get pictures with santa

— get some lovely tiger & elephant pictures

– go to the store

— get the things i failed to last night

— get peanut butter

– clean kitchen

– make dough

— make pizza

— make cinnamon rolls

— make bread

– make applesauce

– finish wrapping gifts

– prettify gifts

– attempt to be in bed early eta: i’m calling 10:30 early, for christmas eve, demmit.

– under no circumstances disabuse young indiana of the notion that there are Two More Sleeps until Christmas eta:he has NO IDE...

SEVEN!

All seven of our seedlings have sprouted! We’ll have an ORCHARD! In about fifteen years. Assuming I don’t kill any of ‘em. :)

I’d just decided that last one wasn’t gonna come up and that I’d probably have to toss it at the new year. But then it popped up. I think those seeds are psychic. :) Anyway, pretty nifty, although I’m going to have to find a deeper box for them, because the tallest ones are brushing the plastic wrap now. I thought it would take MUCH LONGER for them to get tall!

Things ar...

Kitsnacks: Russian Tea Cakes

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES

(traditional Kenai Russian ladies’ recipe)

1 c softened (not melted) butter

1/2 c sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c finely chopped walnuts

Allow the butter to soften to room temperature–do not melt. Sift the powdered sugar & measure. Stir them together using a spoon–do not use a mixer. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift and measure the flour, then re-sift with the salt. Stir in the chopped walnuts. Stir the flour mix into the butter mix.

The resulting dough w...

Happy Birthday of the Unconquered Sun!

I got up this morning and lit a candle for the Ember Days, because defying the gods of a fictional world is just how I roll. And also it was certainly long before sunrise, so I’ve done my part in showing the sun the way back today (although I think tonight may actually be the Longest Night. Close enough.). Happy Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, everybody. :)

I tell you what, poor Indy is so wrecked that I’m about ready to wrap all the presents and declare it Christmas. He is SO. EXCITED. So ex...

look, i wrote a book

I have, a year late and after half a dozen false starts and tens of thousands of words thrown away, finally finished the 3rd book in the quartet I’m writing for my nephew.

It is, I am pretty confident, utter shit, but Christ, at least it’s finished.

That’s…three, I think. Books I’ve written this year. STONE’S THROE, which will be out–soon! January, maybe, for Kickstarter backers? March or April for everybody else? BEWITCHING BENEDICT, the Regency we’re shopping around, and now SKYMASTER.

Also I...