Reading
Finished Spiral by Paul McEuen. Thrilling! I couldn't put it down and it made the wee hours of the night go so much faster (lots of teething, diaper rashes, and general squalling going on at our house lately). Not to mention terrible storms here in the northern Virginia area.

Also finished Does This Church Make Me Look Fat by Rhonda Janzen, author of Mennonite In a Little Black Dress.  This one was funny, too, but not as good as the first one.  I really enjoyed her stories about her family, especially her mother, in the first memoir, and her newest one was mostly about her newfound religious faith, cancer diagnosis, and relationship with her husband. I found her musings about faith and Christianity a little too "Jesus is magic!" for my liking.

Finished Sharon Shinn's newest one, The Shape of Desire. Most of her fantasy novels are terrific, and this one was a solid entry. Toward the end, I wished her characters would just TALK to one another. A lot of angst could have been avoided if they had only communicated. But, oh well. It was still pretty good.

In the middle of Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers.  It started off well enough--a girl in Renaissance Brittany finds herself sent to a convent to train as an assassin (where the nuns worship the lord of Death, Mortaine). But then it devolves into a heavy breathing teen romance, and I'm quickly losing interest. Give me more Buffy-type ass-kicking and less under-eyelash glances at the hero's sinewy arms!

Eating
An everything bagel with cream cheese (from Wawa) and a Coke. Aaaah!  My favorite breakfast.  Lunch will probably be leftover tuna casserole.

Another Day, Another Collar

Reading: Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn
I love this series. I wondered whether this one would love up to its predecessors, which have all been rollicking, humor-filled, suspenseful cozies. It did. I love Chet, with his distractible personality and fierce love for Bernie, his human sidekick. Poor Bernie!  Always falling for some money-making scam. But he's very good at catching the bad buys, as long as Chet is around. Reading these novels makes me want to get an Australian Shepherd. Anyway, I highly recommend reading this novel while you're relaxing in your hammock or sofa this summer, or breastfeeding your infant at 3 a.m. (which is when I read it).

Eating: Chicken Caesar Salad. I Googled "how to make chicken breasts" and found a couple of easy methods for juicy, boneless, skinless breasts.  Once, I was feeding my baby and eating dinner at the same time. Unfortunately, I ws eating chicken breasts that I had failed to cook completely.  Ick.  So now I tend to over-cook them.  Here are the methods I found:
A. Cook for 30 minutes in a 350-degree oven. 
B. Check out the more complicated sautee-it-and-leave-it method at http://www.thekitchn.com/

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Reading: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Started reading this one two nights ago and am almost finished. How did I miss it when it first came out? I don't know--perhaps because I had a newborn . . .At any rate, it's an exhilarating read and I'm already feeling sad that I'll be finished with it later today (if I can stay awake--the baby kept me up late last night). A well-written vampire/suspense/sci-fi/horror novel with heart.

I definitely recommend this one.

Eating: Peanut M&Ms, iced tea
Those virals have got me all hyped up! I need something crunchy to work off my stress levels.