Good morning…. *rubs eye*

*sips coffee*

Ok… ready.  😀

What a week and it is only Thursday morning but it has been jam packed with self inflicted things to do…. 😀  Today I work until 2 and then I am going to get my hair cut.  At 4:30 I have a charity wine tasting at a local restaurant for an area Elderly care home.  This is kind of a neat thing this restaurant does – each month on the second Thursday they allow a charity to be sponsored and you pay $15 for wine tasting and horduerves.  My aunt is going to be there, some cousins and my friend Wendy has been roped asked to come along as well.  🙂

Then…. after I have spent a little time there I need to drive a mile up the road to another restaurant where my friends Heidi, Cindy, and Sara are meeting for our monthly dinner.  We are discussing a road trip in June so I need to see where we are at in that discussion.

 

Oh yes…. and then tomorrow…

Tomorrow – a group of my friends are going to leave Brainerd around 1:30 in the afternoon and we are having a girls weekend.  We are only going about an hour away but we are staying in condos and Friday night we are staying in – watching movies, playing games, and hanging out.  Saturday we are going to shop in the area and then Saturday night…

The Rick Springfield concert.  (Reagan from Miss Remmer’s reviews sent me a text message and said “who’s that?”)    LOL

 

 

 

Anyway – it should be fun just getting away and hanging out for the weekend.  And to help those of you who are scratching your head saying…. “who is that dude?”  Here is one of his hits (yes…. I said hits….. how 80’s am I?)  😛

 

Good morning.  MMMMMM Coffee is tasting good this morning!  I had a busy day yesterday and today, tomorrow – and through the weekend is looking about the same.  I enjoy my 30 minutes in the morning writing these posts and “chilling” before I rev up and fly out the door like the late rabbit in Alice in Wonderland….

I love my Shelf Awareness email I receive each weekday morning.  It is filled with bookish news on book stores, books, trends, etc….  yesterday it gave the top 10 BANNED books of 2010.

And the banned books are:

1. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson Reasons

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

6. Lush by Natasha Friend

7. What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

8. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie

10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Have you read any of these?  I have read #2, #5, and #10.  Last year I participated in banned books week – this year it is September 24 – October 1, by reading banned books all week-long.  Yes it is true I read Dr. Suess’ The Lorax (shudder!), The Absolute True Diary Of A Part Time Indian – see it up there on the list *waves*, SPEAK (oh wow this one was good!), The Bell Jar, Farenheit 451, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix, Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret – yes, that is Judy Blume, Freedom Writers, The Face On The Milk Carton.

It was…. an awesome week and I plan to do it again this year.  Banned Books are not what you may think they are…. they are books that have been challenged and asked to be removed…. in the case of the Lorax, people complained that it was bad for the forestry because the book is about removing trees.  Yes…. I kid you not.  😉

 

On the flip of that, the books that are up for an award are as follows and SSSQQQUUUUUU for ROOM making that list.  My book club voted for ROOM to be our May read.  I am excited as I think it will make for awesome discussion!

 

Finalists for the Orange Prize for fiction are:

Room by Emma Donoghue
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson
Great House by Nicole Krauss
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
Annabel by Kathleen Winter

 

Have you read any of these?  Other than ROOM I have not but have been interested in Great House for some time now.

Ok… got to run…. work… work out, kick boxing… home….

This weekend I am going on a Girls Weekend – and I will give more details on that…. on another morning 😀

 

Good morning!  Did everyone survive the weekend?  I hope wherever you are at you were able to experience a bit of nice weather, a little reading, and a lot of fun….

I think I did…. Friday was almost 60 degrees for the first time in Minnesota this year.  I actually got on my bike.  It’s true!

Saturday – well Saturday was the Dewey Read-A-Thon and despite the Camp Benedict Silent Auction being on the same day (I ran to it twice!) and dinner out…. I still did ok for a chick on the fly!

Here is what I accomplished:

Hate List by Jennifer Brown- start to finish 432 pages … sadly, this is the only book I finished

Open House by Elizabeth berg (car audio) 30 minutes

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (kitchen/living room audio) 1 hour 10 minutes

Massacre at Mountain Meadows (bathroom/bedroom audio) 30 minutes

I was reading (listening) for charity, for Camp Benedict the camp for children with AIDS and their families.  I pledged $1.00 for every 10 pages I read or 10 minutes I listened to audio.  I also opened it up to others to sponsor me if they chose or make a donation…. here are the results:

My reading:  $43.00

My Audio:      $13.00

Millie:  $3.00

Key from Random Acts Of Reading donated .5 cents a page:  $21.60

Don Saxum $25.00

For a total of:  $105.60!

 

Yesterday I skipped my morning gym weight lifting class knowing I was going to be there in the afternoon and instead visited the Monday What Are You Reading participants.  I really enjoy seeing what everyone is reading and many times I can get through the list without adding a book to my tbr…. yesterday that was not true.

At There’s A Book, I found Danielle’s review for The Kitchen Daughter by Jael Mchenry

Also, Danielle caught me again with her review of The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander

At Helen’s Book  Blog, her review of A Thousand Sisters by Lisa Shannon grabbed me right away!

At Not Just Reading I was interested in a book called Half The Church by Carolyn Curtis James (unfortunately, this is the only one my library did not have.)

The top three have been reserved at my library.  I usually visit the other blogs with my library reserve on-line page open…. just in case 😀

FINALLY – update to Kickboxing.  Yesterday evening I took my third class and enjoyed it very much.  They put me with a girl who was there for the first time and while we are both beginners, it was fun to talk to her and when we were given instructions I could whisper, “don’t worry…. I am still learning that too!”

It was fun – quite the work out and I am LOVING it!  My friend Heidi is coming with when I go Wednesday evening, and I am working on my friend Wendy!  (Come on Wendy – everyone is doing it!  😛 )

 

Ok – off – busy day…. book club meets tonight to discuss Sunday’s At Tiffanys by James Patterson

Good morning.  I have just a few minutes this morning as I have an early commitment.  For all of you who did the read-a-thon yesterday, how much fun was that?  I had a blast even with a few things in my day that pulled me away.  I made it to hour 18 and then it was literally light out for me.  I was done – kupoot…. I wanted to do more… I could not.

I will gather totals later – probably Tuesday morning as tomorrow is all Monday What Are You Reading and I try hard to keep Mondays clear for that purpose alone.

Anyhoo…. I would love to hear if you participated how did you do?  What did you read?  What did you love?  What was the best part of the read-a-thon for you?

I am out… but I wanted to leave you with this….

This was my cover made up for one of the mini challenges….. below is the actual cover…  and yes, that is ET….. he was my stand in.  😛

LOL…. have a sweet day!  😀

Good morning.

Yes it is still morning, but yes… I am late.  First of all… my fingers hurt.  Well.. I think maybe it is my arms hurt all the way to my wrists and therefore it is effecting my fingers.  😛  Kickboxing Day 2 did not come out as pain free as day one.  I think I over achieved, over confidently thought that since day 1 was pretty much pain free why not jump back in to the ring?  Well… I definitely felt weaker last night, seemed that my arms tired more quickly and I watched the clock…. a lot.  Is it over yet? I was supposed to do to the 5:00 pm class tonight with my friend Christy but I am pretty sure I will be canceling out and waiting to start again on Monday.

The Dewey Read-A-Thon is tomorrow – SSSQQQQUUUEEEEE!!!  This is so much fun and I hope you are planning to participate….don’t worry if you cant do the full 24 hours (oh I tried once… at 2 am it was not pretty… :razz:)  If you can take any amount of time at all to read and join in the fun you should go sign up!  😀  And they have fun mini challenges throughout the day to break up the reading time and I love that!  I have the 2 pm (central time) challenge right here and make a note to come check it out because you are not going to want to miss this one!  😀  I have a couple must do’s tomorrow – one being going to my friends silent auction so I will listen to audio while traveling there… keeping in the readathon theme…

And as for book love…. ahhhh… I just am craving book time.  I am going to sit down here in a few minutes and wrap up Little Princes.  Yeah, that was on my agenda for yesterday but the day was crazy busy and after kick boxing and dinner I fell asleep on the couch at 9 pm.  Boy that is embarrassing.  😛

Today I am doing group power at noon, dropping off items for the auction, going to the library, prepping my post for tomorrow, and reading.  Yes – I am hitting the pause button on life and getting in a little reading time….. warming up for tomorrow 😀

Good Morning.

Things I need to share this morning before I take the dogs (Elmo and Bailey) to get their haircuts while I am at work….

First – exciting news for those who would LOVE to go to BEA but find costs to be a big factor in attending.  Lenore at Presenting Lenore is having a book blogger convention scholarship giveaway – hurry, you must sign up by April 13!  I met Lenore last year when we both were on the Adrianna Trigianni Tea experience and she is so sweet and fun – AND she recently received a book deal which is so ssssqqqquuuuueeeee worthy I can not even put into words 😛

I received a BEA scholarship last year when I entered a contest held by author Sarah Pekkanen (author of Opposite of Me and Skipping A Beat) and therefore I can tell you that you never know who may win!  😀  (BEA recap on a stick)

 

And on to kick boxing…. I took my first ever kickboxing class last night at the Warrior Alliance. My friend Christy has been going and I was interested…. but let me tell you – this is not your Wii boxing….. nope.

I walked into the room which is all workout mats and surrounded by cage like walls and touch looking girls wearing boxing gloves….  Oh wow, I thought – this is so real.

AWESOME!

I had a BLAST and am going to try to attend tonight as well.  It’s not a bad deal -$40 a month and you can go up to 5 times a week.  I really enjoyed it and I know I got a good work out.  Surprisingly, other than a little bit in my shoulders, I do not hurt today and was able to leap (yes leap!) out of bed without feeling like I was hit by a truck.  😛  Always – ALWAYS a good thing.

Ok… time is ticking and I need to move.  Hopefully tonight I will have some time to visit a few blogs and finish Little Princes and start Hate List.  😀

 

Good morning people of Wednesday.  I come to you in peace.  😛

I was reading my friend and fellow Bookie, Angie’s review of ROOM yesterday evening over at By Book Or By Crook.  I always enjoy seeing thoughts on books that I have read and enjoyed.  I left her a comment about the controversial discussion I found by using the spoiler button link in my review.  Then I thought… wow… it has been a long time since I have read a book that required use of the Spoiler Button.

What is the Spoiler Button?

 

It is a link I would use if I read an extremely awesome book that I wanted to discuss deeper with others who have read it as well.  The button would link to a separate page where we could really discuss the book in great detail without fear of spoiling the book for those who had not read it.

I started wondering what books would be ones that I could use the Spoiler Button again and thought I would engage you in this…. I think perhaps when I read Hate List, that might be one…. or the Mortal Instrument Series (City Of Bones…)

What else would you recommend as books that stir up the discussion… books that you would enjoy a safe place to discuss openly about?

 

This morning I am sipping coffee and hurrying off to work.  I want to leave you with this memory of Gilmore Girls that pops in my head every time I go to bed without washing my face first…

 

Mmmmmm Hmmmmm…. let this be a lesson to me.  🙂

Have a super day!!!

Good Morning.  😀

Oh… yeah… about this post title.

Ok… here’s my story.  😛

The Missions banquet was on March 25th and I was bidding on a few silent auction baskets for the fudge cause.  Throughout the night I wound up winning two – one with home made bread (mmmmmmm!) and another which was a basket of new tools and a pound of homemade fudge.  I really thought the basket was cool with the fudge tools.

“But Sheila, March 25th was over a week ago, how did this fudge devouring just come up?”

Great question!

Al and I had driven separate to the banquet as I was part of the set up and tear down.  At the end of the night I sent him and Chance home with both baskets.  When I came home about an hour after them the bread was on the kitchen counter… the fudge tool basket was no where to be found.

When I asked Al about this he told me that I said the tools were for him and so he left it down at our shop behind our house.  *a slight sweat broke out across my brow*  I agreed with him that the tools were for him, but I did want to try the fudge.  He said he would bring it up, and I said, “no, no… it was better this way”… out of sight… out of mind.  I did not need the fudge – I was getting ready for biking season…

and that should have been the end of the story.

Then last night Al comes in the house after work with the fudge tool basket.  I asked why it was in the house…. this basket of fudge tools, and he said that I had mentioned wanting to try the fudge.

“Oh, that’s right, there is fudge in there.”  I replied, not meeting his eyes.

We had dinner and after dinner Al opened up the fudge that was cut into nice large 1/4 pound pieces.  He took the top piece with a glass of milk.  When I looked at him he said, “What?  Is that too much fudge?”

I told him 1/4 pound piece of fudge was pretty large.  He smiled and took the fudge and milk downstairs to watch tv.

I waited of course, until he was comfy downstairs, and out of eye sight.

I made my way to the fudge and tore off a bit of one of the 1/4 pound pieces.

Oh….

HEAVEN.

(Have I mentioned that anything chocolate is pretty much like kryptonite to me?)

I took a bigger corner off the chunk and grabbed a cup of coffee…. mmmmmm even better.

Then I joined Al downstairs.

Then I came up and let the dogs out… little piece of fudge.

Then I came up and changed into my pj’s… little piece of fudge.

When Al went to bed I had another cup of coffee and yup you guessed it… BIGGER piece of fudge.

By the time I stopped…. I had eaten two of the quarter pound pieces.

Uhhh….

“oh.”

😯

This morning when Al got up for work at 5 a.m, the tool basket, some left over pizza and the rest of the fudge was by his keys with a note…

“Please take down to shop with you”

😳

So today…. April 5, enough of that… tonight I am taking a Turbo kick class followed by Zumba.  On Wednesday a friend is taking me to my first kick boxing class where I do believe… I may not be able to type on Thursday.  😛

Have an awesome awesome day – and just say NO to the fudge.

Good morning I mumble with COFFEE CUP too to my lips.  Time management ya know… 😉

Today is the final day of the home show and I am ready to be done… this year really has been a long show.  I love hanging with the people and seeing everyone that attends but the 10 hours of hanging out in the concessions has caused my feet to hurt and the rest of me to silently scream “Are We Done Yet?”

Today it closes at 4 so that isn’t so bad and normally this weekend show doesn’t get this reaction out of me…. I just think I am overbooked lately and with down time lacking… I crave a day to unplug (Monday is going to be that day for me… I took the day off of work, canceled all meetings…. U N P L U G).

On a happier less whiny note, I actually was reading yesterday – a little at the show and then a couple of hours worth when I got home.  While it was not the book I planned to read – it is the book I was meant to read.  Little Princes by Conor Grennan is so far – a delight.  I love the authors experiences in Nepal, am amazed at the children that are trafficked in this country.  What an awful word.  Yes Conner’s story is one that gives my heart hope, reminds me quite a bit of my time in Honduras, and is one of those books where you look at what one person has done to make a difference and makes me personally want to do more.  Conner is a witty author whose humor I appreciate and there are so many times so far that I have agreed with what he was saying as I could picture it happening.

Ok… this wasnt suppose to be a mini review…. LOL…

I am off – have a super Sunday!  😀

Good morning.

That was an awful post title…. mainly because I don’t know how I feel.

Oh… in that case I guess it is a perfect post title.  😛

I am tired from the Home Show yesterday but not physically tired.  I had plenty of sleep.  If I did not have the Home Show again today I would not still be in bed… I think maybe the word I am looking for is weary.