Since the last time we left our intrepid hero...

It's been over a month since I blogged. A very long, very stressful month. I somehow survived half the move to the new building. I'm not sure how, but I managed. I had three students come in the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we packed up a lot of the stuff in the lab. The movers came over on Monday and moved all the stuff we packed over to the new building. Since that time, I have been there 6-8 times getting stuff that were okayed to pack and apparently weren't really okay to pack. :( It's a long walk from the parking area to the building, especially if you are carrying stuff. It's just so backwards. We are supposed to be moving into that building, not out of it...

Jesse turned 12 yesterday. I can't believe he is so old! :( We went to Cici's Pizza on Tuesday with the family to celebrate. My mom picked up a very cute ice cream cake (scroll down to the snowman). Jesse got a Special Edition Nintendo DS Lite. He was very happy with his gift. Yesterday we stayed home all day. I made him cupcakes. He really wanted orange cake with strawberry frosting. I put the strawberry frosting on four of the cupcakes but vanilla on all the others.

I have been doing a lot of reading and playing my early Christmas present.

Reading:
Lover Revealed by JD Ward (Book 4 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood)- This book is Butch and Marissa's story. Butch was the only human allowed with the vampire Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover Unbound by JD Ward (Book 5 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood)- This is Vischous' story. It was a good read. I loved the background information on Vischous. I guess she ran out of happy endings. :(

I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Dance with the Devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon- This is Zarek's story. It was great. I loved the depth of the character. Zarek was a former slaved (to his father's family) he suffered untold abuse and ended up dark and misunderstood.
Kiss of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon- Cassandra is the only remaining relative of Apollo. It is told that her death can stop the curse. Wulf is a Dark Hunter who is cursed to never be remembered by anyone he meets that is not of his own blood. Definitely a good mix! :)
Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon- considered a Dark Hunter book, but not really. More of a Were Hunter book. Vane is friends with Dark Hunters, tho. And Bride is friends with the family of girls that are featured quite a bit in this series. It is a great book to go against all the body image problems. I really liked it. I couldn't put it down at all!
Seize the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon- Kenyon turns the villian into a hero. Very masterful. Valerius and Tabitha. We have been hating Valerius since the beginning. He gets hooked up with his enemies' wife's twin sister. We learn to love him with Tabitha.

I have enjoyed the Dark Hunter books. As soon as I can, I will be ordering more. :)

Games:
I got a Nintendo DS Lite for an early Christmas present. I got to get it now because Christmas is about watching Jesse open presents. :)

Nintendogs: A very cute game. You get to take your dogs for walks, teach them tricks and enter them into competitions.

The Sims 2 Castaway: Love it! I finished the game, but I haven't finished the collecting. It's really cool. Once you escape the island, a host of new things open up for you. You get to spear fish, dig, explore the temple, cook, forage, plant seed, hunt for bugs, make stuff, and sew clothing. I'm at 98% of stuff collected and am just waiting for some stuff to drop at my SOS sign.

Brain Age: A great game, but not something you can play for a long time. You train a little each day to make your brain work better.

My Sims: Not as good as Castaway. I haven't played it a lot, but I hope to get the strategy guide this weekend and give it a try again.

Puzzle Quest, Challenge of the Warlord: A puzzle game with a role playing element. The battles are like Bejeweled, but you and your opponent take turns on the same board. I had to retrain myself how to play the Bejeweled game. I like to set myself up for a good move on the next turn. If I do that, I'm really just setting my opponent up. :(

Sim City: I have barely scratched the surface of this game. So, I don't have much to tell you.

I want Rune Factory pretty badly! :(

I just found this game... It cracks me up! Sprung! How can I not want a game with the tagline "A game where everyone scores" LOL!!!!