Stacking the Shelves - I once was lost, but now am found

Shameful, I know. But I feel as if I finally found myself. Or perhaps I just crawled out from under the mountain of responsibilities and obligations weighing me down for the past month. It has been a struggle, I'll tell you that.

Not only did I have my regular working 10 - 15 hours OT every week, but I also had to finally take down all the Halloween decorations...in December. I know. I wanted to leave them up a little longer since I only got them up a few days before Halloween, but then the hurricane, the snow, getting ready for Thanksgiving, there was an earthquake, a flood. It wasn't my fault!!!!

And so, once the Halloween decorations came down the Christmas decorations had to go up and then the tree. Now the tree takes several days to do. Not only is our tree 7 feet tall, I collect ornaments, a lot of Hallmark ornaments, that I keep in the individual boxes. There are hundreds. No, of course they can't all go on the tree every year, that is why I have to get rid of some. Anyway, it takes a lot of time to take them out of the boxes. They all have to come out first so I can decide what is going on the tree. And if I have to plug in the batteries, it takes even longer as I have to unscrew the battery plate, put in the battery cells and screw the battery plate back in. Trust me, the whole process takes a lot of time.

Once the tree went up, I had to take all the empty boxes as well as the Christmas decorations I didn't use down into the basement until after the holiday. One flight of stairs up or down is easier than 2 1/2 up or down. Then, I had to clean off the dining room table, which was still full of all kinds of kitchen stuff from when the kitchen cabinets were resurfaced back in August. Once I cleared off the dining room table and cleaned up that room, I had to work on the kitchen. I couldn't even see the kitchen table and it's been a mess for the past four months. I know.

Add on top of this, shopping for Christmas presents, wrapping Christmas presents, baking Christmas cookies and any other activities, it left very little time to read or post anything. I was taking very late night baths, usually falling asleep in them, going to bed well past midnight, running around like a loon. Christmas Eve at my family's house with drama, the in-laws coming over for Christmas dinner with full-on drama, cooking, cleaning, etc.

And so for two days after Christmas, I slept on and off. Yes, that is correct. I pretty much slept through boxing day. Sad.

So, now that I have basically slept through my vacation, I can actually breathe a little and now have time to catch up on email, reading and posting. Reviews to come, but first, I need to read the books.

That being said, Santa added to my TBR pile, but since it's been a while, I'll share what I've picked up since we last spoke.

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews


Books:
Opal by Jennifer L Armentrout - Finally!!! I went to the local book store with a coupon in hand, but neither location in the area had the book the first week of release. I had to order from Amazon at full price and by the time I got it, both branches on the book store had it.
The Cursed Pirate Girl by Jeremy Bastian - Graphic novel somewhat reminiscent of the art of Arthur Rackham.
Love at Second Sight by Cathy Hopkins - This is a book I ordered secondary market and there was no eBook sample to download. I ordered it on plot alone. It sounded intriguing. British author, which I love. Review to come.

Kindle:
Six Earlier Days by David Levithan
Pure(Covenant)by Jennifer L Armentrout
Deity(Covenant)by Jennifer L Armentrout
Elixir(Covenant)by Jennifer L Armentrout
Please Don't Go by Kelly Mooney - Sequel to Please Don't Tell. I didn't know there was another book out, so I was very excited to find it.
The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein - Amazon bargain for $1.99
Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr - Amazon bargain for $1.99
Radiant by Cynthia Hand - Novella for $1.99
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows: An Outlander Novella by Diana Gabaldon - Amazon for $1.99
Forbidden by Syrie James and Ryan M. James - Amazon bargain for $2.99
Putting Boys on the Ledge (A Girlfriend's Guide to Boys) by Stephanie Rowe - Amazon for free!!
By the way, for those of you in New Jersey, Amazon seems to now be charging tax on digital books as of December.

Manga:
Dengeki Daisy 11Oresama Teacher 12
Strobe Edge 2
Bleach 54
13th Boy 9
Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit 1
Chocolat 8

Blu Ray:
Hans Christian Anderson - After my literary vacation, I wanted to pick up the movie again and compare.

And now for Santa's presents:

Books:
Venom by Fiona Paul - Finally!! Missed at BEA. Now it's mine!!!
Lullaby by Amanda Hocking - This one is autographed!!
Death and Resurrection by R.A MacAvoy - A bit of adult fantasy
Under my Skin by Charles De Lint
Survival of the Filthiest (Get Fuzzy) by Darby Conley
Masters of the Nonsenseverse (Get Fuzzy) by Darby Conley
Dark Crystal Creation Myths Vol 1 by Brian Froud, et al.
Trolls by Brian Froud

Blu Ray / DVD:
Indiana Jones Collection on Blu Ray
Kung Fu Panda 2
Dragons: Gift of the Night (How to Train Your Dragon)
U2 Go Home: Live From Slane Castle\

Dr Who:
Tardis Flashlight Key chain
Sonic Screwdriver Flashlight Key chain
Dr Who action figure with Fez and mop - Fezzes are cool!
Dr Who Salt and Pepper Shakers
Tardis Laplander hat
Tardis pen (The Tardis is the pen topper) - From my friend Terri, Awesome!
Dr Who Sticky Notes - Also from my friend Terri - It's a book of Dr Who themed post-it notes!!! How cool is that?
I also ordered for myself a string of Tardis Christmas lights which I'll post once I take a picture.
I got a new Dr Who T-Shirt from Tee Fury which is the 10th Doctor designed as a face card from a poker deck - Awesome!!
And last, but certainly not least, a Tardis hockey jersey designed by Dave at geekyjerseys.com!!!!

By the way, I hope you all caught the Dr Who Christmas special. It was fantastic!!! Alien murdering snowmen? What's not to like???

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and just in case I don't have the opportunity tomorrow, I wish you and yours nothing but the best in the new year and I wish you all many, many happy hours of reading!!!