When you’re moving house or preparing for another book haul, family and supposed ‘friends’ may suggest that donating, trading, selling, or giving away your books would be a great way to make room or lighten your load. Here is a list of completely plausible reasons to keep your books, when NOOOO doesn’t cut it.

#10 You are collecting for the biggest post-apocalyptic library in your hemisphere. When the crap hits the fan, and there are no more romance books left on the black market, where are all the poor, surviving, amnesia suffering, men going to learn how woo a girl again?

#9 You’re preserving the food source and natural habitat for your pet silverfish. Poor old Mr Al Foil, he like to be called Al for short; loves his cozy home. How could anybody deprive him, especially when his son Tin is coming to visit next weekend? PETA may need to be alerted.

#8 You are researching for your memoirs. How on earth are you going to be able to remember the most inspirational books in your life if they aren’t ALL there at your fingertips when you finally get around to writing it?

#7 You don’t get rid of family heirlooms. Each and every work of genius in your book case is to be one day handed down to your children and your grandchildren. What? Twilight IS TO timeless.

#6 It’s financially smart. You’ll only have to replace it when the library hasn’t got it when you want to read it. Not to mention having to pay off the person you bribed to have the book constantly on loan as back up.

#5 Every one of them is on your To Be Read pile. There is an order, and a system. One book missing and the next 6 years are screwed.

#4 Sentimental value. There is a story in every book, and not just the ones written on the pages. Don’t you understand how important these external stories are to me? *Queue sobbing and dramatic music if necessary.*

#3 The pages are all dog eared. Wear and tear really devalues a book. Nobody would want one like that. I only do it when I can’t find a book mark or a random piece of important paper or a coffee mug to mark my place, honest.

#2 Questionable marks on the pages. You know what every single one of them is, and others may think they are something gross. No that is NOT blood, it’s sauce from the brilliant spaghetti Bolognese I made back in 2001. Paul Newman may want a sample of the stain someday so he can extract the recipe. It was that awesome. No; seriously, here do you want a lick?

#1 I read in the toilet. NOBODY wants second hand toilet books. It’s practically illegal to give someone a toilet book. Haven’t you watched Seinfeld?

by Mandy Wrangles

So, you like vampires, huh? Um, I hate to break it to you, but isn’t that a little passé? I mean, with the current glut of bloodsuckers out there, aren’t we supposed to be over them and chewing at the bit for the ‘next big thing’?  Everywhere we turn in the bookshop, online, television and the movies, another vampire and his/her crew have popped up. Generally, they’re pining for the short mortal life they once had, in love with a human and fighting their natural instinct to gut and devour them. Oh, and they’re always ridiculously good looking… aren’t they?

Well, no. Sure, some of the vampires of late might fit that mould, but it’s a modern day phenomenon. The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Vampire Academy, House of Night, Evernight and about seven thousand and twenty-nine more. Some (lots) of them are even pretty cool. But have there just been too, too many? Do you groan out loud when you see a book or movie trailer for another vampire story? Or do your fingers twitch gleeful anticipation, does your heart begin to pump that little bit faster in anticipation of release day? Do you expect your vampires to charm the pants off you before they eat?

Or, has the (ahem) well run dry? Are bloodsuckers yesterday’s news?

I don’t think so. Yes, the current trend to elevate our favourite monsters into the stratosphere of all-things-hot-and-yummy might just be running its course. But what about those vamps who are the real thing? The monsters, the demons, the really, truly bad guy vampires? They’ve been around in folklore since – well forever – in many different guises. I don’t see them going anywhere soon. We might be a little full up with being fed the same old modern day bloodsucker, especially since so many are so similar. We all love a bad guy with a heart, but I hate to be the one to break the news – vampire hearts aren’t supposed to beat. And it’s those vampires – the ones with the shrivelled up life-muscle that I believe will never really go away.

Publishers and movie makers are moving away from vampires, looking for the next big thing – angels, shape-shifters, mermaids and co. But vampires have been with us forever, they’re not going anywhere in a hurry. They’ll morph and change, fit in with whatever it is society wants or needs from them. Let’s face it; that’s how they’ve survived this long already. I think we’ll see more vamps like those in True Blood and Being Human. I’m looking forward to seeing what author Claudia Gray does with ‘Balthazar’, her spin-off to the Evernight series. The vampires in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series also still have a way to go with their Shadow Hunter counterparts, and they’re certainly vamps who can’t always be trusted. (AND ride flying motorbikes!) Granted, most of them are hot (hey, I never said I had anything against a gorgeous vampire), but they’re more dangerous, more driven by their thirst and need to feed their murderous instincts. We’ll also see more classic vampire-types, like Lestat and his buddies from Anne Rice’s novels, Kurt Barlow from Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and of course, The Master from Buffy and the granddaddy of them all, Dracula himself.

Vampires will make a big, bad comeback – not that they’ll ever really go away – and when they do, be careful. Keep the garlands of garlic slung around your window, the crucifix beside your bed. Because when bloodsuckers come knocking once more, they’ll be bigger, badder and thirstier than ever. And in the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying those impossibly good looking, angsty vamps. Just remember… they’re all monsters underneath.

So it’s February and we all know what that means! Love is in the air (if you’re not feelin’ the love, you better hold your breath!) !!

Just because you’re not married, or aren’t seeing anyone, doesn’t mean you should totally shut out Valentine’s Day! You have parents, siblings, and friends you could all get small gifts for! And I have a few great ideas 🙂

1. Get an old jar, decorate it, and fill it with Kisses!

2. Be a little creative; instead of just going out and buying a card, make one!

3. Get all the delicious treats you know your Valentine loves and make them a gift basket!

4. Make them a few decorative cupcakes. They don’t have to be perfect!

5. And lastly, wake up early and make your Valentine breakfast!

I hope this will help you guys! If you have any ideas you would like to add, then comment below, I would love to hear what creative ideas you have! 🙂

Lisa

Valentine’s Day is less than a week away. What are you going to get the one you love, especially if your wallet is a little skinny and your bank account is dwindling?

You can whip up a really nice card yourself rather than pandering to the Hallmark giants. Having trouble thinking of something romantic to put in the card? Find a really nice quote from a book of quotes; you should be able to find one at your local library.

If you don’t have the budget for store bought jewellery, you can make your own for her. Be sure to take notice if she wears mostly gold or silver, then what colour she wears often. You can make a memory wire bracelet, for under $10 if you spend a little more on focal beads and use seed beads as fillers.

Or try this Celtic Heart knot

from TyingItAllTogether with satin ribbon cord, a bead on either side of the heart, and a knot to hold the beads in place. Pass the cut ends carefully through a candle flame to seal them and avoid fraying. This would be great for a bracelet or a necklace.

Rather than buying an expensive bunch of flowers, you can make them with origami or tissue paper. From How to make these, is a tutorial on origami Tulips…

Staying with the origami theme, you can make a heart shaped gift box for whatever you decide to buy or make. This tutorial, thanks to Jo Nakashima, is really pretty and looks simple enough.

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You don’t have to spend a fortune to let someone know you care about them. It really is the thought that counts, and a handmade gift shows you thought hard. As a bonus it will be something nobody else will be given. Good luck!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Who knew that something so pretty, fluffy looking, and fun to play in would become such a big problem? Who knew I would be out a whole week from school, because of this fluffy mess (I needed a break anyways, but still!)? Who knew that after about the third day of school closure, things were getting old, dangerous, and cold?

Snow! How could snow cause so many problems?!

So if you didn’t know, I live here in the states, in the Northwest to be exact! We’re used to the cold, and the rain, but not twelve or more inches of snow! When it hit us, it was all fun and games at first, school was out, I had more time to read, do homework and just hang out. But after about the second or third day, I was tired of being cold, stuck inside, and not being able to see ALL of my friends from school.

That fourth night, I remember going to bed, and watching the news. Listening to the reporter telling us that snow was sure to melt by the next morning, and that schools would open up again if not in the morning, it would be at least a late start. Well, that report was VERY WRONG!

I woke up the next morning, with a good foot of snow in my front yard! I’m not even sure if you would consider it snow, since the top layer was frozen ice. The streets and trees were covered in this ice! I couldn’t believe my eyes! And again school was out!

I remember going to bed Wednesday night, hoping and praying it would go away, and go away fast (come out suuun, where are you?). All that night, I would randomly wake up to my printer turning on and off, being super loud, and doing, who knows what. At that time (middle of the night) I didn’t pay too close attention, I just wanted to go back to bed.

But I should have known, I should have payed attention to the clues!

The power went out! Not just a hour, or two. Not even just one day, but three! Three days without power! Lisa can not survive without Internet, checking her email, or blogging! The first day without power wasn’t too bad, since Josh was over, and we were having fun. But after the first night, the house was freezing, and we basically had nothing, but my small radio!

But I stayed strong and survived!

My friends are all okay, my family is safe, and none of my neighbors are hurt! We’re all fine! But within this last week, I learned tons of lessons!! The biggest one being, is always stayed prepared for anything, have flashlights, candles, and tons of canned food ready for any possible emergencies.

Even though the power outage sucked, I hope you guys enjoyed this week’s Life with Lisa, and make sure to check out my blog post on Turning Pages, and learn different ways to prepare for power outages!

Lisa