Music Monday: Carrie Underwood Storyteller
Katie 
Renegade Runaway
Dirty Laundry
Church Bells
Hearbeat
Smoke Break
Choctaw County Affair
Like I’ll Never Love You Again
Chaser
Relapse
The Girl You Think I Am
Mexico
What I Never Knew I Always Wanted
Heartbeat (Stripped)
Little Girl Don’t Grow Up Too Fast
Storyteller is the fifth studio album from American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. It was released in October of 2015. This album comes across as more “country” than some of her other tracks, at least to me. The album has been doing really well on the charts and got Carrie some records – She is the only country artist in history to have all of her studio albums debut at number 1 or 2! She is also the only artist to score six consecutive number one albums on the Top Country Albums chart.
The album kicks off with a great track – Renegade Runaway and the others all follow suit. I think that my favorite tracks are Renegade Runaway and surprisingly enough, Choctaw County Affair which is probably one of the more ‘country’ tracks on the album… There have been 2 singles released off the album so far, Smoke Break, which I’m not really all that fond of and Heartbeat which is featured on the album with 2 different versions – one as a bonus track.
Bases Loaded is a collection of baseball erotica stories. The book is only about 100 pages so there are several short stories in them – which are my favorite. There are a variety of different styles of stories, the only common theme is baseball. There are gay and straight stories included as well. I really liked the collection, though of course there were a few stories I liked more than others. I think if you like baseball and you like to read erotica it will be hard to not find at least one story in this collection that you enjoy! (And most likely there will be more)
Another Crochet book in which I wish I knew how to crochet. This one features some of your favorite characters from Grimms’ Fairy Tales. As with most craft books, this one starts out with some notes, tips and abbreviations so you understand what is going on in the rest of the book. The first pattern is an easy pattern known as the “Basic Person” which will get you started on any of the person characters in the book. Each project has a list of all the things you need and is broken down by The Yarn, The Hook, Additional Materials, Measurements and Gauge. There is the skill level, a photo of the finished product and a break down of the steps to create it. The rest of the book is broken down by each of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales beginning with a photo of a scene that you can create and then the story. Included are Hansel and Gretel, THe Hare and the Hedgehog, Jack and the beanstalk (The giant looks a bit like Hagrid if you decide to try and make some Harry Potter characters too!), Tom Thumb and Rapunzel.
Sounds Like Teen Spirit is a book made up of Stolen Melodies, Ripped-Off Riffs and the Secret History of Rock and Roll. This is the updated version for 2016. There is new music, old music and even entire sections devoted to Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart! This book examines songs that sound like songs that came before them. While Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines was a hot topic more recently, this type of thing has been going on pretty much since the dawn of music. The author notes that this book is meant to be an interactive experience and suggests that you listen to the tracks presented to see the similarities for yourself. This was how I had intended to go through the book as a lot of times I don’t hear the similarities in songs until they are pointed out to me. (Stay With Me / I Won’t Back Down I never heard initially which my brother found to be ridiculous because he picked up on it right away.)
The Misadventures of Grumpy Cat (and Pokey!) is a comic containing 11 stories about everyone’s favorite internet cat, Grumpy Cat. I usually try to stay away from comics, but something about Grumpy Cat made me have to check this book out. Pokey seems to be looking for more fun everywhere and Grumpy cat just could not care less. However, throughout the book the two of them get in all sorts of predicaments. There is even some bonus material at the end of the book. It’s hard to pick which of the stories was my favorite, because Grumpy and Pokey are just too cute and I loved seeing them on the screen.
Quilts: Presidential and Patriotic is a look at several quilts that were made related to american history over the years. It features lots of information and photos of the quilts. I always love to look at books about quilts simply because I am not sure I have the patience or the talent to make them but there are so many people that do and come up with such wonderful things. The quilts in this book do not disappoint, gorgeous creations of red, white and blue honoring our great nation. All of the fabric that has been created featuring the presidents and campaign buttons and other historical items are pretty cool to see too. Some of the detail put into embroidered faces of the presidents is amazing, even their signatures!