image courtesy of zazzle.com

Yesterday, I was having a lonely, bored day.  The Bean’s therapy was cancelled, none of the friends I contacted were available to get together, and I was a little down.  I took the Bean to the park, hoping to strike up a conversation with another Mom, and my wish was granted.  We made a couple of new friends, and my day got better…until our Realtor called with news of even more delays and ridiculous requirements from our Lender.  Grrrr!

I got the Bean down for a nap and took one myself.  Two hours later (yes, it was wonderful), we woke up feeling refreshed and hungry.  Yay! Snack time!  I got the graham crackers down for my daughter and decided to have one as well.  But my graham cracker needed something – hmmm, cream cheese!  After we finished the last few graham crackers in the box, I went on a hunt for other things to smear cream cheese on.  As it turns out:

  • baked tortilla chips with cream cheese – YUMMY!  I was dabbing my cream cheese-coated knife into the bottom of the bag to gather up the small chip bits that were left.
  • fig newtons with cream cheese – not as good as I was hoping.
  • toddler biscuits with cream cheese – better than toddler biscuits without cream cheese, but still bleh.
  • carrot sticks with cream cheese – not great.

I had to add the carrots in there for the sake of experimentation, and also so I could say I had some veggies in my snack.  Cream cheese – the food of the gods?  Maybe just the food of bored Mommies, but try it with the chips!

On the Kindle: The Imaginings by Paul Dail

I came across this book because my brother-in-law knows the author and was recommending the book on his Facebook page.   The initial release of The Imaginings was on Kindle only, and at such a great price that I had no excuse not to buy it and check it out.  It’s a story in the “Horror” genre, so at first I was a little worried I wouldn’t like it.  I LOVE thriller novels – Dean Koontz is one of my favourite authors.  But I don’t do well with gory scenes and lots of ugliness.  And in fact, near the beginning of the story, there IS a scene in a tree that almost made me stop reading.  But I kept going and I’m so glad I did.

The Imaginings is the story of a young man, David, whose life is changed forever when a demon starts to terrorize and pursue him.  His wife is killed when their house burns down in a blaze (started by the demon), and David escapes with major burns on his body.  He is drawn towards a cabin, where, chased by the demon, he brings terror to the family who has just moved in.  David saves their young daughter’s life by offering himself freely to the demon in exchange for her freedom.  The story follows him as he flees and seems to escape the demon.  But strange things start happening around David, and he starts to black out.  People he is connected with are murdering others, and he starts to suspect he had something to do with it.  Meanwhile, Jeannie is being cared for in a group home because she refuses to talk.  She has a supernatural connection to David and knows she has to confront him.

I won’t say much more about the story, because the best part about this book is the journey.  There are so many little “ah ha” moments, and the ending has a neat little twist that had me ruminating for days after finishing the book.  If they ever made a movie out of it, though, I don’t think I’d be able to watch it.  One of the beautiful things about reading is that you can censor your own imagination.  The plot of this novel is so engaging, that I didn’t want to stop, so I glossed over any scenes that dipped too far into the horror side of things.

This is Paul Dail’s first novel, and I wish him great success.  I have such great respect for those who have the imagination and drive to write novel-length projects, and this one is first-rate.  In an email to Paul early in my reading of the novel, I told him that his story reminded me of Dean Koontz’s style.  After finishing, I need to amend my statement – Imaginings was as enjoyable to me as any Dean Koontz novel I’ve ever read, but Paul Dail has a style all his own.  I look forward to reading his next novel, and I hope the sales go through the roof!

You can buy the book on Amazon, and you can also check out Paul’s website for more information