Thursday, April 26, 2018

Funny Cat Thursday!

I've decided that, because I'm constantly too busy to post a funny cat video on Wednesdays, I guess it's just got to be 'Funny Cat Thursday'!

My parents shared this gem today on Facebook, so I decided to share it with you guys!


The Accidental Guardian

The Accidental Guardian. Mary Connealy. 2018. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 305. [Source: Netgalley/Bethany House Publishers Review Program]

***

When Trace Riley finds the smoldering ruins of a small wagon train, he recognizes the hand behind the attack as the same group who left him as sole survivor years ago. Living off the wilderness since then, he'd finally carved out a home and started a herd – while serving as a self-appointed guardian of the trail, driving off dangerous men. He'd hoped those days were over, but the latest attack shows he was wrong.

Deborah Harkness saved her younger sister and two toddlers during the attack, and now finds herself at the mercy of her rescuer. Trace offers them the only shelter for miles around, and agrees to take them in until she can safely continue. His simple bachelor existence never anticipated kids and women in the picture and their arrival is unsettling – yet enticing.

Working to survive the winter and finally bring justice to the trail, Trace and Deborah find themselves drawn together – yet every day approaches the moment she'll leave forever.

***

Rating: 3.5/5

I hate to say this, but I wasn't really all that happy with this one. Yes it was engaging, and yet it had a good plot, and it had so much going for it which drives me crazy because Mary Connealy didn't seem to harness it properly.

I'm not the biggest fan of western stories, though once in a while I'll pick up a good one. When I was a teenager, I was in love with Gilbert Morris' Reno series. But, unfortunately, this story just didn't meet my expectations.

Trace was such a sweet man and is the kind of man I dream of finding someday.

The plot of this novel was good, with the climax hitting at the end with a decent resolution afterwards. The novel itself ends rather abruptly, but I can see how it leads immediately to its sequel, The Reluctant Warrior, which comes out later this year. I think I will read it when it comes out, just to quell some curiosities I have.

I guess the biggest problem I have it the fact that there were blocks of dialogue that here paragraphs long. It really didn't work for this novel. When Trace told Deb about his past, he kept talking and talking, instead of switching over to a flashback or something that would have drawn the reader deeper into the world of the story.

The way the story was written made me feel like I was on the 'outside' instead of being sucked in. The goal of the author should be to suck their readers into their story. I like it when I'm sucked into a story, because that way I can escape from the stresses of real life for a while.

This is only a problem, I think, because I've been training myself to become a better writer, and through my countless hours reading articles by other authors, I've begun to notice little things that break little rules I've learned to follow. It's kind of like how my training to become a better photographer has been judging the pictures I've seen and the movies I've watched, to the point I can't look at a blurry photo and call it 'good' anymore.

The Accidental Guardian had its good and its bad, and one day I might reread it when my life isn't as stressful it has been over the last month. But until then, the book will remain at a firm 3.5 out of 5.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Heartwarming Cat Video Friday!

Here's a couple of cute cat videos I found on Youtube. One's about how some cats react to members of the family coming home for the first time in a while, and the other is about the first meeting between two cats. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!



Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Funny Cat Video Wednesday!


It's technically Thursday, but I've been so busy lately and Wednesday is usually so busy. Here's this week's funny cat video!

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Funny Cat Video Wednesday – On a Thursday haha

So, I've been thinking – I love cats and one of my favourite things to do is look up good cat videos when I can't seem to get myself to do anything else. Somehow, after watching a few good videos, I feel that I'm able to get all those "to do"s done. And because of that, I want to start sharing some of the funny cat videos I find here on my blog. The scheduling would probably be Monday – Wednesday – Friday, but today's Thursday. I've been too busy to get this started on the right day, lol. But I want to put smiles on people's faces, so here you go!

(I graduate at the end of the month! Woo hoo!)


Saturday, April 7, 2018

Are Digital Screens Actually Bad For Kids?

This is one of the most controversial questions bouncing around between adults these days. During my teenage years, I was guilty of spending too much time on the computer, though my phone didn't serve as much more to me than a music player and a tool to contact other people with.

It was an old iPhone 3-ish that lasted up until a couple months before I went to college when its ringtone silencer switch would buzz constantly as if I were switching it on and off constantly. I bugged my mom so much that she gave me her phone (she couldn't understand it since she went from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, so she was going to be switching back to an iPhone again).

Are digital screens bad for kids? has been a question that has been bouncing around since I became old enough to really start contemplating what it would be like to have kids. What rules would I set? How strict will I be? Will I be as strict as my parents?

The last thing I want to be a mirror-copy of my parents in terms of raising a child. Don't get me wrong, my parents did a fantastic job despite the circumstances, but there are some things I'm going to do differently.

Like, I'm not going to let my kids be on a screen differently – in terms of today. My kind of screen growing up was the old box-like televisions and the New Super Nintendo, Gamecube, and Nintendo 64. (I can hardly believe that I was 6 when the Gamecube came out). At one point, the only time I was allowed to play video games was on Saturday, so I didn't spend much time behind a screen (especially when we moved to Powell River. They only had one internet provider so only a certain amount of people could be on the internet at the same time).

Side note: I still can't believe that I once lived at a time where you couldn't be on the internet and the telephone at the same time...

Anyway, times have changed drastically in the last 15–20 years, and now one of the most pressing questions is 'are screens bad for kids'????

I thought this video made some good points.


Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia, a review

The Battle for Skandia . John Flanagan. 2006. Puffin Books. Pages: 294. Price: USD $8.99/$11.99 CAN. Setting: Skandia. ISBN 0142413402. [S...