Meanderings – Page 106

Morning Meanderings…. oh forgive me… I had to.

Published on February 11, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

Good morning. 😛

*mischievous grin*

What?

You think I am up to something?

Ok its morning.. and I do not have the capacity this early to carry on a long con (sorry – LOST joke and thumbs up to Sawyer).

Over the past couple weeks I have ran across a couple of videos that have cracked me up. One is Harry Potter related. The other is book related. I tried to ignore them….but…. ya know….

I am not real good at that either.

SO – hopefully you find at least one of these as entertaining as I did:

Literal Harry Potter. Had to chuckle.

and then…

This one… his eye brows crack me up.

Today I am striking against activity. LOL – ok, just until 1:00 when I have lunch with a friend and then at 4:00 when I go to Group Power…. but other than that…. I am banning activity for the day other than good books and a little down time. This past week exhausted me… last night I had dinner with my friends who I used to work with and that was a lot of fun catching up. By the time I got home at 7:30 pm I was so tired I went to bed at 8 pm.

Mmmmm hmmmm… there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I have people over dosed and just need a little recoup time.

Any hoo – off to read! Have an awesome rest of your day!

Morning Meanderings… apparently home of the babbling blogger

Published on February 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)49 Comments

Good Morning!

I am so tired right now.

Yesterday turned out to be much more than I had planned….. in a good way… but wow. I am exhausted.

I worked and at work my wonderful co workers left this for me on my desk:

This beautiful calla lily is now sitting at my desk. I wish I would have taken a better picture – it really is gorgeous.

Then my wonderful coworker Dawn took me out to lunch at China Buffet (I did mention I was turning off the good eating habits for a day for my birthday….) 😀

After work I worked out and then went home and SURPRISE- my hubby had changed his evening plans so we could go shopping and go out to dinner. He thought I would want Chinese (I LOVE Chinese) but I had to confess to him that ship had sailed as of my noon lunch plans. Instead we went to Poncho and lefty’s a wonderful Mexican restaurant and we split a full size order of chicken nachos. (Again – remember I took the day off from eating healthy) 😛

At 8 pm I left to meet up with friends and had a blast. They had made me a cake (ok – seriously – I took the day off from eating healthy! LOL) and we shared in a lot of laughs. Paula picked me up an amazing book – thank you Paula 🙂

Left: Amy, Paula, Deb, Dawn, Laura, and me

And then finally….

I had to (HAD TO!) treat myself to a couple of books…..

The Beth Moore book is a 90 day study on Paul. I seen this at Barnes and Noble when I was there last month and I wanted soooooo badly to purchase it but decided I could wait for my birthday. SO – it arrived yesterday – on my birthday! I love books like this and there is space inside to write which I also enjoy.

A Tiger In The Kitchen:

After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America–proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers’ and aunties’ kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before? In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.

A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.

I know right? I can not wait to read this book!

And finally (yes I know – babbling on…) I have to a sweet mention to two bloggers who not only made me smile a little bigger the last few days but were also two of my roommates last year at BEA. A big thank you to Care from Care’s on-line book club who sent me a birthday card a couple of days ago. How super sweet is she? AND hugs to my wonderful friend Reagan of Miss Remmer’s Reviews who called me and sang her own version of Happy Birthday yesterday evening. Seriously – this is two great examples of why I love this community of book bloggers.

Ok… I have an early morning meeting, work until 3, Zumba class at 3:30 and dinner with my Wal-Mart friends at 4:30. Yes another crazy day of good things.

Friday I fully intend to pass out. 😀

Morning Meanderings… Happy Birthday Happy Birthday!!!

Published on February 9, 2011February 9, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)90 Comments

LOL

I am having a pretty good week. After the Monday What Are You reading Celebration, a fantastic book club meeting last night (review and discussion up later today), and now today…. is my birthday.

I am in a fine festive mood and feel we need a little theme music here before I can move on so hang on while I put some music on…

hang on…

be right back…

*looking through stacks of music*

Ok… sweet! Here we go:

(Open up another browser to listen to this song while you read)

(right click on above text and click where it says open new window)

Oh come on it is 80’s! Whats not to love? 😛

Anyway while I dance around my kitchen table with my coffee cup let me share a happening and a tip….

Last night at book club I apparently dropped my cell phone in the snow. By the time I left 2 1/2 hours later (yeah… we were chatty last night) I found it iced over by my vehicle…. it was functioning but slowly.

Thanks to my son doing the same thing a year ago _ I knew what to do.

I brought it home and put it in a Ziploc of rice. Apparently the rice will draw any moisture out of the phone. The verdict? It is working fine today.

SO – birthday agenda? Nothing great really. I work until 3, then hitting the gym…. home for dinner and then 6:30 I take Chance to Youth Group and myself to class. AT 8 pm I plan to run Chance home and then at 8:15 meet up with a few girlfriends for appetizers for a small but “Woo Hoo its your birthday” gathering. The eating healthy is on hold until the Birthday is over. 😀

Morning Meanderings… The New Classics?

Published on February 8, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Good morning! I am buzzing around this morning coffee cup in hand making sure I have everything I need for the day. I have work, gym, make dinner at home, book club at 6:30 pm. Book Club! I LOVE book club!

According to a list found on Entertainment Weekly’s website – they have posted a list called the “New Classics”. The best reads from 1983 to 2008. I have went through and “white lighted” the ones I have read.

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

There are many on this list I want to read: Beloved, The Things They Carried, The Handmaids Tale, The House On Mango Street, and A Prayer For Owen Meany to name a few. It would be interesting to post this list again in a year and see if I have made any progress.

I am curious – which of these have you read? Are there books missing from this list, and if so which? Are there books that do not belong on this list?

*On a completely random note – thank you to everyone who visited yesterday and helped celebrate the one year anniversary of Monday What Are You Reading? A fun fact – J Kaye gifted this meme to me on February 8th 2010. That day was the biggest day I ever had on this blog. Yesterday, February 7, 2011, that record was broken.

Morning Meanderings… Super Bowl… (wait for it….) COMMERCIALS!!!

Published on February 6, 2011February 6, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)56 Comments

Good morning!

Fingers are flying across the keyboard this morning…. must be the coffee.

Today is a day that many people wait all year for. The super bowl. You here the excitement build up in those last games of the season… some teams drop off the chart, others hang in there and finally (FINALLY) it is down to two teams… and if your team is not one of them… you usually go into this BIG GAME tonight still rooting for one over the other.

My friend Wendy (Hi Wendy!) is a HUGE Packer fan. Even though she lives here in Minnesota, she is originally from Wisconsin and she is Packer all the way. I can imagine that she probably does have the face paint, jersey, and the foam finger…. even if she will not admit it. 😉

I however – have never been interested in football. Yet every year we will go over to friends over large quantities of appetizers and watch the big screen. I go… to hang out with the girls and catch up…. and for the commercials. My super bowl goes like this:

*The game is on the TV*

Girls: Talk, talk, talk, giggle, talk, talk, NO WAY!, laugh, talk talk

*Commercials come on*

Me: “Quiet everyone – it’s the commercials!”

Yup. It’s true. I do like a well written commercial and that is the highlight of the game for me. (Please do not hit me with your foam finger.) 😀

What is not to love?

DO you watch the game? Any game plans?

Morning Meanderings… Oh NOW I Have Something To Say

Published on February 4, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Yes… for two days I have got up every morning and had an experience of bloggers block. I would stare at the empty post space that awaited something witty out of me…

and nothing witty comes.

Then…. last night while I was cooking dinner…. a literal breakthrough of topics hit the surface of my brain.

FINALLY.

Thats the good news. The bad news is that now that I have all these things to say…. I want to say them today. SO… you may want to go fill up your coffee cup before you read on.

I will wait here.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Back? Ok – sweet!

First off – I have neglected to announce a few winners of late and that is soooooooooo 2010 me, and not 2011 me at all. I must correct this and pronto. First of all – YAY to all the awesome commenters of January. The monthly winner for the random “thank you” drawing is none other than:

Kathleen of Boarding In My Forties

Kathleen please choose a book from the prize box and I will mail it to you (email me at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com)

and the winner of the most comments here in January 2011:

Laurel of Laurel Rain Snow Creations

Laurel wins a $20 Amazon gift card – I will send that your way today. 😀

WOO HOO to you both and thank you thank you thank you for coming and chatting here at Book Journey. This comment contest is monthly and is going on right now for February! Here are the details.

AND then…. The winner of the bag of Coffee from Honduras (from my trip in December is:

Sharon at Sharon’s Garden Of Books

And then there is the John Betcher SIGNED book giveaway, The Nineteenth Element….

Lori of She Treads Softly

Congratulations winners!!!!

In other news. for the audio book lovers who read these posts – Audible.com is having an amazing sale. They have a sale on “First Of The Series audio – and over 50 titles $4.99 or less. I picked up:

Wondrous Strange for $4.31

30 Clues for $3.91

1st To Die $4.79

There are plenty of good “first in the series” to choose from but these are three that I have always wanted to try and now I will!

And finally – all week-long I have been meaning to mention this but life and stuff got in the way, and yes, I forgot for a while too…. BUT- This coming Monday will be the one year anniversary for my hosting of It’s Monday! What Are You reading? This has been an exciting year of meeting many new bloggers and blogs thanks to connections through this meme. I want to celebrate with a special Amazon gift card giveaway drawing for those who participate this coming Monday and I also have a bonus book that I just discovered in my book stash that I will give away as well to one random participant. I love reasons to celebrate and this seems like a good excuse! 😀

Ok – that is it – and that is probably enough. I have a review coming up yet later this morning and it is my day off (*happy dance happy dance*) so I will get a little reading done this afternoon! 😀

Morning Meanderings… Change Up Your Play Lists

Published on February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Ok – hello…

😀

I have been working out at the YMCA with my friend Heidi this week. Yesterday we decided to exchange IPOD Shuffles to listen to each others play list. Oddly – that was kind of cool. She had upbeat jamming music that I did not have on mine – and I had songs on mine that she did not have. It was fun to hang out on the tread mills and jam out to each others music.

Like a moment – in each others work out brain.

😛

What was funny for two girls close in age – we only had three songs that were a match that we both had on out IPOD’s.

Now we are going to find a way to capture out ITunes list to email to each other so we can fill in songs that we would like to have. She had a few that were remixes that I didn’t even know had been remixed.

My number one song on my IPOD the one I listen to the most when working out is still Jai Ho (theme song from Slumdog Millionnaire)

That beat just gets my moving… on the treadmill, on the elliptical, on my bike:

Ok – I am out…. weigh in day and then work but then…… NOTHING. Yes NOTHING. I have no meetings tonight and I could do flips all through my house jamming out to Jai Ho because of this fact! 😀

Thanks to Alison, at Alison’s Book Marks for sharing in yesterdays comments on my morning post about a Seinfeld episode about “Nothing”. I included it today.

Have a super awesome fantastic day!

Morning Meanderings… ………………………………………

Published on February 2, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Good morning. 😀
Really….

I got nothing.

I got up this morning, started the coffee and went to start this post and…

nothing.

Left the laptop open, went to get ready for my day hoping something would break lose from my mind, some little fun tidbit of life, a book thought, a memory, something coming up….

really…

I got nothing.

Yesterday was good. Busy but good. I was not around here at all until late last night when I caught up on your comments. I went to dinner with friends last night and had a good time.

Chance and I have started doing Wii Fit at night…. 30 minutes… let me tell you the hula hoop test – is brutal… I don’t think I have every swung around in a circle sp many times trying to keep my mii (Wii’s version of ourselves) in action. There has to be You Tube videos of people doing these moves because really –

they are HILARIOUS.

I am off…. work today…. work out this afternoon (Group Power and a little tread mill time), a 6:00 meeting to plan the Missions Banquet in March, and a 7:00 pm class.

Weekdays are never-never dull around here. 😀 I am hoping tonight to get in a little reading time as that part this week has suffered with a full schedule and exhausted evenings…. thank goodness for audio!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Thursday will be better – no evening plans and I am THRILLED to have a night at home!

Morning Meanderings…. Feeling Whelmed…

Published on February 1, 2011February 1, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning.

Did 6:30 am come early for anyone else today?

(I am not going to mention that I was up until almost 1 a.m. with my nose in a good book.)

I heard my cell phone text tone and it popped me out of a bed. In a groggy shuffle I made my way to the kitchen and with one eye (I could only spare one, the other was still asleep) I checked the message.

*work out at 3:30 today*

Ok…

This is good. I am a little ( A LOT!) sore from yesterdays adventures back into Group Power and it would be easy for me to skip the workout today so I could ~~recover~~ chill a bit after work.

However…. this little text…

puts my day into overdrive.

I work at 8 am…. I need to get moving on that.

I work until 3 pm and then will hit the gym from 3:30 – 4:30 and then drive home by 4:45.

I have a fifteen minute window to prep dinner for Chance and Al.

At 5 pm two of my friends who I have not hung out with in a long while, Ruth and Colleen are coming over to pick me up so we can go and hang out and catch up over dinner.

While I am thrilled to see them, my day has become so full I am exhausted before I even begin.

How do you juggle it when it is all good things like this?

I am not whining….

I don’t really know what I am doing besides chilling with COFFEE CUP and thinking…. really, I need to get moving.

So – verdict? Whelmed. Yes, I feel whelmed. Not over whelmed…. but right on the edge. 😛

Anyone else need coffee? I am up.

Morning Meanderings… Wha…. It’s Not Morning Anymore?

Published on January 30, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good…..

well….

whatever.

To say the morning got away from me would not be exactly true…. I was present in the morning…. but I did something I rarely do. I got up at 5:30, checked the stove, came in and went back to bed. Woke at 7:30…. and…

remained in bed.

I was tired.

When I did get up – eventually… at about 9:30 (I kid you not!) I prepared for my day, and went grocery shopping. I picked Chance up from his friend’s house, came home, and put everything away. I started a load of laundry and seriously was just going to skip this mornings meandering.

BUT…

somehow that just felt…

incomplete.

SO…

I read a few blogs…. and the ideas started to flow… I need to: