WONDERFULLY FUNNY NOVEL

I don't normally start off my blog with a comment on a novel I'm reading but in this case I can't seem to help it as I'm reading a wonderfully funny one entitled: A LOVING SCOUNDREL by Johanna Lindsey. It's the 7th book in the Malory family series and deals with Jeremy Malory, son of James Malory who meets up with Danny who is a thief living in the seeder part of London. Jeremy is trying to help out a friend and needs to hire a thief  in order to do so and Danny ends up being the one enlisted to help him retrieve some valuable jewelry from the person who stole it from his friend. While some readers will go into length on what occurs in a book, I never have the heart to as I don't want to ruin the novel for any one who might be viewing this blog. Suffice it to say what it states on the outer cover is true...it is indeed witty and sinfully sensual. I can't put the book down and while I want to finish it and move on to Captive Of My Desires, at the same time I don't want it to end at all...I still haven't found out who tried to kill Danny when she was just a child and before she took up her "thieving" ways as it were. And I've only got a few more pages to go before I'm finished with it. I'm up to the part where Jeremy's father, with the help of three friends, has just extricated Jeremy from being forcibly leg shackled to a woman he never even gave the time of day to and yet she had decided SHE was going to have him as a husband whether he wanted to marry her or not. Anthony Malory, Jeremy's uncle, is down right put out that he wasn't let in on Jeremy's problem and asked his advice on the matter. So, as usual, this has caused the two brothers to argue. It's such a delightful scene and hard to imagine that these two siblings didn't really exist at one time but sprouted from the fertile imagination of the author. The story moves along quiet nicely without a slow or dull point (at least thus far) in the entire tale. I simply never tire of the Malory's and in my humble opinion, someone in Hollywood should snag these novels and write a screenplay about them in order to turn it into a movie. I would LOVE to see them brought to life on the big screen. I don't know if Lindsey will write any more novels featuring the Malory's and Andersons (Georgina (or George as she's commonly known by) is James's wife and Warren (who we meet in Gentle Rogue and again in The Magic of You) is George's sister) but then I haven't read the last book in this series yet either so I will probably find out if she's left it open for more stories. There is still the rest of the Anderson clan to "marry off". I'm not a big fan of the Regency era but when it comes to this family I dive right in! By the way...I didn't mention but Amy Malory (Edward Malory's daughter, second eldest in the Malory clan) is Warren's wife.

So, now that I've gotten that off my mind let me proceed with more personal issues...which, for a change, there aren't that many. I'm getting my blood sugar problems under control. It's staying under 200 after I've eaten and I wake in the mornings and it's been as low as 85. Which I don't think is to serious as my monitor hasn't given me the message to "see my doctor". So the insulin twice daily is helping. I inject 20 units in the morning and 26 in the evening. This of course, combined with the Metformin, is helping me keep it down to a more normal level. I've also stopped stressing about my home situation. If, and I hope it isn't the case, we have to move because the new home owner decides he no longer wants us to pay rent, well, then, we have to move. I still want us to buy the house back but that may not be feasible (we have to wait at least four years before we can try to get a loan again) and I'm accepting that no matter how much I think it sucks. This is the hardest I've had it in all my life, at the same time I am grateful that we've been able to stay in the house as long as we have, some families haven't been so lucky and they've had to move out soon after they were foreclosed on.

Cow girl fashions from Katy Keene No 4  1951

On the job front...nothing yet. I keep looking and nothing seems to be available out there, for me any way. It is hard not to let my spirits get down, but I do try to keep them up by doing things I love...like reading a good book (goodness knows I have the time now) or drawing and finishing art projects that have been sitting on the back burner for years. I've been doing a lot of scanning lately...mainly my Katy Keene comic book collection. You never realize how much you have of one thing until you attempt to store it all in some way or another. I am, however, enjoying going through them all. Some of the comics, though, are seriously falling apart, literally crumbling into dust. These are the ones I have to scan from cover to cover the soonest. I pretty much have all the comics from the 1950's...though I am missing number one but trying to complete my collection is sometimes virtually impossible due to the price of the earlier ones...mainly 1 through 20.  Still if I can obtain a number one at a decent price I'll buy it. Since I am doing a cow girl theme with the Katy Keene's I thought I'd continue along those lines with today's paper doll.

It's almost February and I still haven't posted this blog. What with one thing and another this is pretty much low on my "things to do" list. So, having said that I promised myself that I WOULD post before the end of the month.

Al  Moore

I did alter this pin-up a bit...just took out the "hole" that graced the calendar it was on.

January 30th 1944

The paper doll for today I found at this site: http://mostlypaperdolls.blogspot.com/ It's a GREAT source for old newspaper paper dolls and she has a variety of Boots ones all in black and white. I think they were originally in color and she's made them into ones that you can color but I'm not sure. I don't have the color version if this particular one but I'm on the hunt for it. I love the paper doll because she's Boots' heavier friend and her clothes are chic and not frumpy. I always disliked it when people assume because you are heavy you can't dress nicely. Now that isn't to say being heavy you should dress in something more suited to a thinner person...it just doesn't look right in my eyes when a heavy person shows a lot of skin. One can dress "sexy" but cover up those rolls and flabby areas, please. :) I'm not familiar with the Boots characters so I'm not sure who this lovely lady is. I do know she is a friend of Boots though.

Copyright NJD 1983/2012

Well, I've come to the end of another blog entry. But I leave you with yet another one of my own paper doll creations...well the doll any way. Her name is Anita and she was created back in the 80's and has outfits reflecting that era and if I remember right her costumes were inspired from outfits worn by Betty and Veronica. I used to own quite a few Archie comic books but after various moves they were lost in the relocation from Hawaii to the mainland. The paper doll was created when I lived in the islands. Living in the islands did inspire me as I created, at the time, over 100 sets. (Anita was number 51) I've yet to find them all. I still just get tantalizing glimpses of the sets I created. I'm SURE I still have them all as they were all in the spare room in our old apartment. and I KNOW I brought them all from Hawaii. I'm hoping I didn't leave them behind at one of our old residences.
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I did revamp Anita. Gave her a new border design which I obtained from The Graphics Fairy. Her site is such a wonderful source for borders. http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/. Anita's pose was also inspired by Betty walking but can't be absolutely certain as it was quite a while ago since I created her. Regardless I do like her. I have a thing about making dolls with quite a few wig changes as well as various shoes in her wardrobe. She used to have 9 pages of clothes but thanks to Photoshop I was able to reduce it down to 7 pages by reorganizing them. Many of her outfits are mix and match.

Well, that will be all for this entry. Until next time.....


                          ALOHA!!