Karli’s Comments (group member since Feb 23, 2010)

Karli’s comments from the Busy as a Bee Books group.

YAY!!!! Crazy summer for so many of us. :) Best of luck with the move, and am so happy for you and liking the new job.

I hate arguing with them. But I'm also not willing to be bullied into changing my parenting because Grandpa thinks Gabe can do no wrong.

Things are ok now. We are taking them out for Cheryl's birthday today. Everyone is rather stressed I think.

We had our signing tonite...so we are off for the new house.

However, Gabe was bitten by the neighbor kid and then hit him. Neighbor kid is 3, Gabe is 9. Mike witnessed it, sent Gabe to his room, my in laws were here to watch the kids while we did the signing, so of course they were upset. Then we came back and Johm (my f-I-l) tells me that we have to talk to Gabe cuz we don't understand. I explained we did but it's never ok to hit a kid that much smaller. He kept pushing and I finally said "John! It's never fucking ok to hit a 3 year old!!!!"

*sigh. I had gotten champagne to celebrate the signing, their anniversary and Cheryl's birthday. Didn't end up being quite so fun tho.

Nope Amy. You have company! I too liked Flavian but not the stories.

Elizabeth, it'll be an interesting contrast to the Houston summer!

Tricia wrote: "I haven't been online in awhile bc it has taken me FOREVER to finish . I thought I was going to love it, but it was just meh. Very hard to get through ..."

Exactly. It was awfully disappointing as I was expecting to love it.

That's my thought Elizabeth - things with kids will be SO easy, and I will have a beautiful garden to sit and read in. And they are also really close to the cemetery, and I am one of those people who loves going for walks in cemeteries. So...it'll be good!

Loretta wrote: "@Karli: I loved that book. I actually didn't find Andi overly angsty, but rather more realistic, and I grew really attached to her by the end."

I think she was overwritten to some degree - but not overdone if that makes sense. I cannot imagine what a wreck I would be in a similar situation. I really liked the story too.

SOLD!!! Lovely couple, I'm so happy to pass my home to them. And also really proud of myself for getting this fine by ourselves. 3 months of living with my in-laws but...worth it in the long run. Right?!?

I finished last night and really enjoyed it. I think Stephanie's review warning of the Angsty Andi was helpful, as I was ready for it. I think though that it was a good portrayal of grief and how destructive it can be.

Thanks guys - and keep your fingers crossed for me! We showed the house to a lovely couple today who called back to say they will take it! They'll be by tomorrow to hammer out details and sign the purchase agreement, so hopefully all goes well. Mike and I both really liked the couple, they are living in married student housing on the same campus he and I started out on, and are expecting their first child in August. So things with this house have the potential to move quickly. And then, I will become Uuber Bee because I'll be that thirty-something in her in-law's basement for a few months while our house completes construction.

Hello my adored Bees - I need a safe place to vent...

HI!

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary, and Mike and I took it off together as we usually do. Most years we spend it doing sometihng we both enjoy...but this year we got a bite on the house, so we were doing "show prep" and then showed it this afternoon, and then another person wanted to see it, so we showed again. And my husband is SO miserable. He HATES this process. We've never really been here before - our prior moves have been from something not great to better. But this time it's a house we built to another house...but it's harder. And he HATES moving. HATES it. Can't watch HGTV because the thought of moving is so hideous to him. So, now we have a really great house for sale (and honestly, 2 friends have posted it to employer websites. that's it. we don't even have a sign in the yard!) And this is hard. So, not the greatest anniversary.

However, I'm STILL excited that we're moving towards building our new home. We're meeting with the realtor, builder and bank on May 22 to finalize and then they'll break ground, so Octoberish for move. I'm honestly anticipating a couple months living with my in-laws which will be hard, but ultimately worth it as we'll get the new house, and save some mortgage payments in the mean time.

So, anyway. That's what's up here.

Obviously not the ONLY one Kristen...best seller, right???

And my local library made the news cuz it evidently has all 3 - with a LONG waiting list on them. :)

Elizabeth (NC) wrote: "I read this one a while ago and was not very enthralled by it--I don't remember why which is not helpful here, but I am a series junkie and I have not been tempted to pick up any of the others in t..."

Elizabeth - I didn't care for it, but tried the next one on the chance that I was in the wrong mood too but, nope. I'm just not a fan of these books. At all.

I keep thinking about what I missed...when I was a junior in college one of my favorite professors of all time, Dan Sheridan, taught a senior seminar on Dickens and I was selected for it. However, I had just gotten married and was offered a full time position at my then job, and decided to work full time and do school part time instead and had to decline the seminar as it was during work hours. Some of my favorite classmates in the English department took the course...and Dan died of a fast moving cancer just a couple semesters later. I think to some degree I've been avoiding Dickens since, because I feel as though I've missed so much of what I should have experienced with his works in that setting. Crazy, how over a decade later I still remember and regret missing one college course, isn't it?

In the preface he gives a really bleak picture of what these schools were like - with our modern perspectives on abuse, neglect and mental illness, it was just so unbelievably hard to read knowing that this little school was based on something that was a reality.

I'm about 1/3 done now - Nicholas is teaching French and Ralph actually felt bad about the situation he dragged Kate into - i'm interested to see the evolution of both of those characters. I don't see Nicholas changing - I think he's going to be the same through the novel, it'll just be the situation around him that changes, but I have some inkling that we'll see a bit of character evolution in Kate and Ralph.

I could slap Mrs. Nickleby though - good grief! WHAT a self-absorbed thing!

I have finally obtained more of an attention span than a gnat, and have been reading and reading this one lately - I love it too. This is actually my first Dickens, and I was worried at first because of the abuse going on with the Squeers - I really, really hated that and thought it took much too long for Nicholas to do something about it. BUT, I'm really enjoying it and cruising along now.

I'm about ready to start . Hopefully I like it as well as the Tea Rose.

Finished the first book today. Meh. Doubt I'll read the rest. BUT - I LOVED your write up Liz. That was great!

I just started and the writing is Holy Crap bad. I really liked Twilight, so was looking for the crack-like feel but I'm not there yet. I'm only to coffee with Christian though, so I suppose I'll give it some more time.