Category: Meanderings

Good morning 🙂

I am going to make this quick as I just seen to be running behind today and I soooooooo hate that.

Last night we had a small book club group gathering.  This was a bonus review that we agreed to do this month and next.  We are reviewing a book around the food within it.  This was an optional read for our group and those who felt they would like to and were able to read the additional book as well as participate in the food bringing were invited to do so.

Really…. that’s the background story of shy I was straightening the front room to my home… it’s a small friendly room that I often refer to as the friendship room as it is brightly decorated and is comfy to sit in and chat with a few friends.  We usually do book club when it is at my house in the family room downstairs as that is bigger, but I did not need that much space last night and left the downstairs to Chance and Al to chill and watch tv while we met upstairs.

(Wow…. I digress today!  LOOK!!!  Something shiny!!!!)  😛

Ok…. my POINT is that while cleaning the room I was organizing a basket of books that I have next to a chair in the room.  That basket of books has been more decorative than anything and these books have not rotated out of this basket in years.  As I looked at what was in the basket I pulled out a book called The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin.  It surprised me as I do not recall having heard of Justin Cronin before The Passage came out this past year.  Yet, there in the basket was an earlier writing of his, and by the looks of it… a softer read as well.

(Really – this sounded much more interesting when I started typing it)

I know I picked this book up because of title… It really does have a gorgeous cover and now as The Passage is so deeply written and interwoven in this futuristic world of vampire (virals) like creatures… I am super curious what this one is about.

Have you ever done that?  read something by an author you believe you have not heard of before – only to find you own something by them already?  Or is that just me?  Crazy chick in Minnesota.  😛

 

Last nights book club was sooooooo awesome.  I need to get the review up today for Olive Kitteridge but currently have run out of time to do so and was too tired last night so we shall see if I can squeeze in some time to do this later this afternoon.  I should have been more organized – but honestly I unwound last night by watching Amish Grace on Netfix which is the true story of the Amish School shootings in 2006, the book I read recently about that was Think No Evil.

 

Oh and winner from yesterdays Sarah Pekkanen day using random.org is:  Kavyen from Reading Between The Pages!

Have a super fab day 😀

Good morning!  yes it is true… Minnesota is buried in snow and as much as that irritates me to no end….. I refuse to let that get me down!

Today one of my favorite authors has a book released and today is going to be all about the book and the author.

If you have been doing a little blog hopping the last few days you may have seen the reviews start to pop up for Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen.  I finished it over the weekend and let my just say if COFFEE CUP and I were book critics our vote would be two mocha lattes and a hand full of Kleenex up – yes…… it is that good.

So let the festivities begin!  Here’s the layout – in a few hours my review of Skipping a Beat will be posted.  A few hours after that please pop in again for my author chat with the wonderful Sarah Pekkanen.

Here’s a quick story about how I met Sarah Pekkanen:  Last April I entered a contest on Twitter that Sarah was tweeting about in honor of book bloggers.  She was giving away a trip to New York for BEA – airfare, food allowance, two nights hotel, tour of Simon and Schuster, and the Book Blogger convention to attend with her.   I entered this much like I would sign up the freezer full of goodies they sometimes offer at your local grocery store and you just sign up because – why not?

Well…. I won.

SSSQQQUUUEEEEEE!!!!  I know right?  I couldn’t believe it!  She sent me an email telling me I won this amazing package to BEA and I thought it had to be spam.  I called her number which she put in the email and she laughed and said, “Wow, I sent that email like 3 minutes ago!”

I remember telling her that I was at work and I was trying really hard not to scream and jump up and down with excitement.  😀

Winning was great – but even better was meeting Sarah.  She is incredibly down to earth and fun to chat with.  I had read her book Opposite of Me and loved it.  I could not wait to see what she came up with next.

So – because Sarah is so incredible and I want you to have a chance to know how incredible she is too – I am giving away a copy of her book Skipping A Beat.  This giveaway is for today only and you will be entered for commenting on this post and/or on the other two posts that will go up today.  If you comment on all three posts – that will be three entries (max of 3).  I will announce the winner tomorrow morning in the meandering.

I hope if you have not read Sarah Pekkanen that you do try her.  I adored both her books!

Tonight I have the bonus book club review and potluck around the book Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. The food people are bringing sounds good – and I am excited to see what the group thought of this unusual read.  Have an awesome day everyone.  😀

GOOD MORNING!

Yes – that is enthusiastic.  I am coming off one of the best Saturdays I have had in a long time….

I am relaxed

I feel accomplished

and I was able to read!

It does not take much to make this girl happy.  😀

I was up until 1:00 am last night finishing up Skipping A  Beat by Sarah Pekkanen.   Sarah’s new book is being released on Tuesday and I want my review to go live on that day as I adore Sarah – and this second book…. well – yeah.  I can not wait to talk to you about it!  Sarah and I will also be chatting here at Book Journey this week about the book, about life and about fictional characters we would love to hang out with.

Between my excitement over Sarah Pekkanen and my excitement over my upcoming chat with author Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan from my review of Tiger In The Kitchen….  I feel really good going into this week.

Now – if I could only finish Olive Kitteridge which is my bonus book club review – at my house this Tuesday and I have yet to crack the spine.  *gulp!*  This is my quest for today.  🙂

So I am off to start my Sunday – nothing big happening here, I am picking up Chance in 20 minutes and after Church I need to plan out our meals for the week while I listen to a little audio, shop a little and then home base for hopefully some quality reading time.

How do you plan to roll out your Sunday?

Good morning.

I am a little later than usual this morning due to prepping and putting up my Literary Giveaway post for Judith’s Blog hop.  If you have some time you should check out the giveaways.  I plan to do this as well once I get some coffee in me… yes, you read that right… as of this moment I am caffeine free.  Probably another reason this post is up a little later… I am not moving as quickly as I normally am.  😛

On other random notes, it is Saturday and time for a Saturday Snapshot thanks to Alyce of At Home With Books.   Hmmmm…. what am I in the mood for this morning…..  *clicking through pictures from my files*

Ok – this will work:

This is a picture of my uncle’s wedding in 1959.  From left to right is my uncle Dick, my uncle Bill, and my dad Gary.  I don’t have many pictures of my dad who died in a house fire in 1980 so I grabbed a few life this at my aunt and uncles 50th wedding anniversary party.  It’s fun to see the hair styles!

For giggles – here is a picture of my dad’s siblings from that 50th anniversary party.  It was awesome to have them all there!  From left to right:  Bunk (she lives in California), Bill (the groom from the above picture), Bob, and Ida. Bill, Bob, and Ida all still live here in Brainerd Minnesota.

My big plan for today is to get in some reading!   I have a few errands to run this afternoon but nothing seriously time-consuming.  I ran a lot yesterday to make today a bit more relaxing.  Seriously though, I do need to get some coffee.  😀

I seen this over at  Polishing Mudballs and LOVE this!  SO I thought I would try it for this Morning Meandering.

Outside my Window: Over cast skies with a hint of pink shining through…. the snow is melting and there are patches of green among the white…. if this is like past years, it is signs of false spring and we will be hit again a couple more times with big snow falls.  I hope not.

I am listening to:  Chance getting ready for school.

I am Thinking:  I have a couple of author chats to complete and a review.  I hope to read a little this morning… and prep packages to mail.  I am hoping I can accomplish a lot today and still get reading time as well.

I Am Grateful For:  This day off.

I am pondering:  The weekend.  What should I get done today – what can wait until tomorrow…

I am reading:  Olive Kitteridge for Tuesdays bonus book group.  I hope to start Black Girl White Girl, and Skipping A Beat over the weekend.

I am photographing: Nothing at the time…

I am listing:  “to do’s”

I am creating: something…..  the question is, what?  😀

From The Kitchen:  Just Al and I tonight so maybe it will be sizzling mushroom covered steaks tonight…

Favorite Thing Of The Week:  Justin (College Son) was over last night.  We had dinner together and watched a movie before he had to go.  AND Brad (Navy son) called last night and I was able to chat with him for a while.

On This Date:  I will work on the book a bit and strive to have a well-balanced day

Ok…. onward.  Have a super Friday everyone.  😀

 

Good morning…. 😀

I am not really a gimmick girl… the “as seen on tv” doesn’t phase me….I pride myself on passing on crazy packaging or the stunts that are done to make old products more appealing.  I say “pshaw” to all that.

Unless…

there is a sale.

(You know there is a story here).  My local grocery store had a product called Batter Blast.  See exhibit A:

Batter Blast is basically a pancake in a can.  You shake it and spray it like cheese whiz into your fry pan and whip up some quick pancakes.  Priced out at 2 cans for $5, I took one look and thought, “FUN!” as I plopped two cans into my cart.

That was over a week ago and they have been in my frig ever since.

Last night was a typical Wednesday of getting home around 5 pm and have to be on the move by 6:30…. my window for anything I need to get done including supper, is a small one.  Al was not going to be home for supper so it was just Chance and I and I was not really hungry so I gave him two options… on our way to town we swing by and grab him a Little Caesar’s Pizza – $5 at the drive thru, or I could make the Batter Blast with a side of turkey bacon.

Batter Blast won… hands down.  I heated up the pan, read the instructions and pressed out a pancake… first attempt, the pancake was too thin and burned easily. Batch #2 was better but my pan was still too hot and I was having trouble turning them fast enough… by batch three, Chance was involved and along with pressing out the letter “C” ’cause that was what we wanted to do, we also make a couple nice batches of pancakes.

Over all thoughts:

Me:  Meh.  It was cool but actually was hard to press the button and really it’s not like it takes all that much work to whip up a batch of fresh pancakes.  It’s also cheaper to make them from scratch.

Chance:  Loved it.  He thought they tasted good and it was fun to squeeze out the shapes.

 

 

 

COFFEE CUP and I are up and preparing for a busy day.  I am leaving for the cities at 10 am for training and will not be home until 5:30 or 6 tonight.  Then College Son Justin is supposed to be over for super and we are thinking about taking in a movie… I would like to see Just Go With It.

I really dislike my days being so FULL.  I am the type of person who needs to unwind and have a little quiet time.  When that is hard to come by…. I start to feel tense.   I have a class Friday morning and I meet with Connie 11 – 1 tomorrow to continue recording her story.  After that….  I am home and chilling for what I hope to be, most of the weekend.  😀

Right now…. I miss books.  I need a good uninterrupted reading session.

 

I will leave you with this question… have you ever bought an as seen on tv  item?  What was it?  How did it work out for you and most importantly….. where is it now?  😀

Good morning!  COFFEE CUP says good morning too… we have been up….

a while.  🙂

Yesterday I was working on my interview/chat questions for Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan, author of A Tiger In The Kitchen.  I reviewed and adored her book this last weekend and she has agreed to chat with me about her life, her writing, and her book.

Uh yeah….

about the book.

Here is a little background info…. when I finish a book it goes one of two directions.  If it was an ok read but probably not one I would ever refer to or read again, it goes to my giveaway closet, a closet in the book room that has all the books that go into the prize box for my giveaways.  If it is a book I really enjoyed and will be referring to again, it goes on my book shelves.

There was a time I knew where everything on my shelves were.  If a friend came over and said, “Hey (they say that a lot), do you have the book _____________________ by ___________________.  If I did, I could take them right to it.

This is no longer the case.  Somewhere since Saturday I placed my treasured book A Tiger In The Kitchen on the book shelf and when I went to refer to it today…. I was lost in the sea of book titles flashing before my eyes, and I came out empty-handed.

So if there was such a  thing as a book tracker, (work with me here…. this is a bazillion dollar idea) I could go in the reading room and command it “Find Tiger In The Kitchen” and like a Geiger counter it would beep in the direction of the book and seriously, who couldn’t use such a time-saving device?

Ok… in the mean time.. my search continues….

the good news, there will be an author chat with Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan and that is pretty exciting!

I am off – awesome review coming up today (yes – a gush worthy book!) and I am pretty much missing in action until this evening.  Work, work out, dinner and then Chance to Student Group and I have a class every Wednesday evening.  I will land at home about 8:30 pm tonight.

Good morning!

*Yawn … stretch*

Yeah… is seems early as I type this at 6:20 a.m. and it is really dark out yet, but the hustle of my day will start in about 30 minutes as I get read y for work.

Over the weekend we were having a great conversation here about the BIG BOOKS, and then as if on some sort of cosmic cue this arrives in my mailbox on Monday:

 

yes…. I think this came in from Shelf Awareness and I don’t recall it looking this ummm…. errrr…. HUGE on-line.  I think I was thinking, this is somewhat of a classic and I have never read it….  and now here it is.  Bigger than ever.

 

 

On time management I took part of Sunday to prepare this weeks meals ahead of time.  Since Chance came to stay with us I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to dinner.  I work weekdays, then I hit the gym with a friend from 3:30 – 4:30 or 5… THEN I come home and many times have a small window before I have a meeting or a class, or Chance has something going on so we need to be out of the house by 6 or 6:30.   It has got to the point that we are eating pizza , subs, and chicken at least once a week – takeout -yes TAKEOUT!  Not good for any of us….

SO… thanks to the Make Ahead Meals cookbook I reviewed last year as well as a few recipes I picked off the          weekend Cooking from Beth Fish Reads, on Sunday within a three-hour window I made:

This is the base for Taco Pie.  This part you can freeze and when ready to eat, thaw and then add in a corn muffin mix with milk and butter and eggs that goes over the top.  TASTY!  We had this last night.

 

Shredded beef for sandwiches – so yummy!  This is already packaged for the freezer, pull out the day you plan to serve it, thaw and heat up for a quick meal with raw vegies on the side.

 

Shephards Pie… ready and froze – a great meal that the guts like because it contains both meat and potatoes.

 

Not pictured:

BBQ Bacon Pepper Jack chicken

Tuna Fettuchini * not prepped yet

Hamburgers and sweat potato fries *not prepped yet

Manicotti

Lasagna

 

And on a final note for this morning – LINKY was a bear yesterday for the Monday What Are You reading meme.  The site was going through an upgrade and unfortunately it hit on the day that I use it the most and caused the list of participants to not be able to be accessed for most of the day.  I believe it is working now and if you still need to add your post please do so – I have hardly had time myself to visit so that will happen over the next few days.

Final final note… I have to get back into my training – Birthday week did a number on my eating habits…… back to the gym and back to setting my goals…. spring will be here before we know it!  😀

 

Good Morning!

I am in a fantabulous mood (yes it’s a word… maybe my word – but a word! :D)

Yesterday was a fun road trip with Chance. We went to Hennen’s which was really the reason for the hour trip to St Cloud because we were looking for a new mattress set that we could not find what we liked locally.  I do love Hennen’s.  It is a large furniture store with good prices and sales and they deliver for free which unfortunately is a better deal than they offer in my own home town.

After spending about an hour in the store I found what I believe to be a great deal and the set will be delivered to my home next Wednesday.  Mission accomplished.

Next stop – Barnes and Noble… fondly know by my friends and family as my Mother Ship.  Ahhhhh…… I can just smell that new book scent!  I did not really have a mission when I went in other than to see what I could find but of course I could not leave empty-handed AND I did have a gift card from my friend Cindy from Christmas.  So….

The Hate List was one I have heard a lot about and the synopsis left me going “whoa” which in book language is “this sounds good.”.  Olive Kitteridge is a book that part of my book club is reading for a bonus read this month.  We have been asked as a group to review a couple of books and plan food around the reviews for a possible opportunity to have our group mentioned in a book coming out.  I know – SSQQUUUUEEE right?   In order to do this we had to plan a couple additional reviews, and for this month – Olive Kitteridge is the one we will review in two weeks.

Then Chance and I popped into Mongo’s in St Cloud which is a treat every time we are in the area.  The food is Mongolian stir fry and if you have never experienced this sort of grill I highly recommend it.  They go by many names around the country, I think the one in Fargo is called Hu Hot.  You get a bowl when you come in and you go around and fill your bowl with the veggies of choice, (there is everything you could imagine – peppers, cauliflower, spinach, yellow squash, broccoli, onion, pea pods, green beans, potato, peas…) and then you chose your meats (chicken, crab, shrimp, beef, salmon, sausage…) then there are three choices of noodles and then you choose 6 scoops of a sauce which you can select from about twenty different types from sweet and mild to hot and spicy and everything in between.  Then you give your bowl to the cooks and they stir fry it in front of you.  They will ask you if you would like to add an egg of rice or a wrap – all included.  It is delicious and fun!  And to give you a bit of what it was like I totally geeked out and recorded a bit of the experience:

Today I have a pretty open day and I am really looking forward to it.  After church Chance is hanging with friends all day and I am coming home to read a bit, prep meals for the week, and do a bit of house cleaning and then hopefully – read a bit more.   After a week of birthday celebration and eating out way too much and eating way too much…. I need to get back on track.

Hope your Sunday is wonderful!