Category: Meanderings

In a word.  I am tired.

I could add more words…  Heavy hearted.  Excited.  Exhausted.  (I think I am too tired to think of words…LOL)

If you read yesterdays morning post you know that we spent the day with our oldest son Brad and then drove him to Fargo to catch his plane this morning to go to the Navy Boot Camp in Illinois.  On top of the fact that his birthday is this Wednesday, and or course not here for Christmas – the drive to Fargo is 2 1/2 hours in some pretty blah snowy weather.  The way home was slick and we pulled back into the yard around 11 pm.  I am tired and exhausted for those reasons.

I do want to let anyone know who has read The Heretics Daughter, or has it sitting on their shelf – we are doing a Word Shakers Book Group discussion on this book next Monday, December 21.  Anyone is welcome to join in this discussion and I hope to get questions out later today to those who I know are participating.  Drop ins to this discussion are welcome so feel free to join in and ask your questions as well.  🙂

As for me- I am going to read a little bit, relax – and try to start this day over in an hour or so.  I have a review going up in a little bit on 40 Loaves.

I need much coffee today.  My heart is a little heavy this morning and I know it will be a pretty weepy day (try as I will to not cry…) Today will be our last day to hang out with our 22 year old son Brad before he leaves for the Navy.  We are going to hang out today, maybe play some wii, take in a movie, dinner… and then we drive him to Fargo where he will get on a plane for boot camp and then off to Florida from there.

I am so proud of him, but of course sad for me.  Even last night as 19 year old Justin and I put the tree up I cried quietly as we put the ornaments in place.

So – in saying all that…. (*taking a big girl sigh and pulling myself together here*) I wont be on line much today.  However I do have a fascinating review popping up in a few hours so I hope you will take a look at that.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

I came home yesterday to not one, not two… no…. six (SIX!) packages on my doorstep from UPS.  And yes, you dont even need to ask…. they were all books.  🙂

That was kind of exciting.  There were a few audios I had been waiting for – a book I didnt know I was getting but was so excited to see I did… and one that caused a poorly imitated happy dance that I was glad I was the only one in the house so I had no witnesses to.  😉

I am not trying to be really secretive about what these treasures were, just that they will show in my In My Mailbox post late tonight and I want to wait until then to reveal what has arrived!  On Twitter yesterday a friend asked me if I only posted review books for my Sunday post…. “Oh no”, I replied, any book that comes in to the home is on that list – either by mail, books I have purchases, or have borrowed from the library.

Today I am taking our kinship partner Chance to St Cloud for lunch at Mongo’s (OH YUM!), take a movie in what I hear is the covetted theater in the area with great comfy seating… and a stop at The Army Surplus store which is all for him because he loves that stuff and I thought that would be cool to let him pick out something for Christmas there.  The treat for me will be a mandatory stop at Barnes and Noble as I think that is a written law whenever I go to St Cloud.  I dont really need a book… but I do want to atleast step inside and breathe in all the words….  (who am I kidding, there will probably be a book leaving with me….)

My son Justin will be meeting us for lunch in St Cloud and then be with us all day as he is on his way home from College and will be staying at the house for the next month.  I think that will be very helpful to me as on Sunday, we take our oldest son to Fargo where he will get on  a plane and head out to bootcamp in the Navy,  Truly a bittersweet weekend that I have described as putting myself through a paper shredder.  I am happy for him, and scared, and proud, all rolled into one.

I have a review coming up in a little while today and everyone enjoy your Saturday!

Coffee Cup and I are enjoying Kona Coconut Rum Latte coffee this morning.

Where did I get it from?

Yesterday afternoon Fed Ex delivered my secret Santa gift from….

HAWAII BOOK BLOG!!!

How much fun is this?  They sent a wonderful 2010 Hawaii calendar, coconut Creme Latte Coffee (which is so in my cup this morning – uh…. YUM!) , turtle luggage tag (I never need an excuse to travel!), a book mark, post its, super cute foot notes and this book that themes with everything:  Poisoned Palms byDorothea Buckingham.

AND….  did you check out the really sweet card they sent along?  Thank you to Missy and Alex – you made my day!  I now have a new blog to check out and HELLOOOOO  – it’s in Hawaii!!!!  🙂 Stop by their blog and check them out!

Good morning!  Just a little bit of time here before Coffee Cup and I make a mad dash for the office!  🙂  I had to share with you that last nights book club was so much fun!  We had our annual Christmas meeting where we potlucked with delicious foods at Kaydi’s home and discussed our book, Home for The Holidays by Rebecca Kelly.  I will post our review later but need to say that for this lovely light holiday read, we pulled a great discussion out of it!

This was also our 100th meeting so I had brought a cake for this celebration.  We joked that it took up a little over 8 years to get to 100 meetings… to reach that 200 meeting goal we would be ….. well….. older.

Finally we wrapped up our night with our gift exchange.  We each bring a gift averaging around $10 and we wrap it up.  We roll dice and if you get a seven or doubles you get to choose a gift.  Once everyone has chosen a gift, we go one more round with the dice and if you get a seven or doubles you can trade your package with someone else that may look more tempting.  Then we all open them and show off what we got.  I got two good looking reads, Santa is a Stetson and Sugar Cookie Murder along with some bath soak.  Love it!

I am so thankful for this incredible group of women!

This is one of those days where I kind of have this excitement going through me like a kid on Christmas morning.  Tonight my book club meets for the Christmas party/potluck review and it is also our 100th meeting!  I am super uper pumped!  We do a gift exchange, review our read and I hand out sheets to the members where they can rate our year.  It is fun to get the results back and at our January meeting we will reveal which book won the vote for the best (and the worst) Bookies Book Club read of the year.

• You have been a Bookie Since

Good morning all!  Yesterday I signed up for The Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge.  Gilmore Girls is my favorite TV series of all time.  A few of you commented that you had never seen the show.  *Shudder*  LOL… SO I thought I would take a minute this morning to tell you what you are missing…

The Gilmore Girls is a show about a single mom and her daughter who live in a place called Stars Hollow.  I know my explanation will not do it justice but basically it is funny, quick whit, and the daughter – Rory is a book lover.  Here are a couple You Tube Clips to give you a sample:

Rory loves Books…

Funny Gilmore Girls Moments…

Unfortunately it went off the air a few years ago.  I now get my fix through my DVD’s.  So I highly recommend grabbing yourself Season One and sit back and enjoy some great moments.  Let me know if you do and what you think.  🙂

Oh and for those of you who have been following the whole ugly sweater party saga… as promised here is the picture!

Yeah… I look like an extra from Lion King…. 😉

That is not a scarf – that is an actual part of the sweater

This is my favorite day of the week.  Rarely on a Saturday morning do I have a pressing commitment so I am allowed a bit of luxury time in a quiet house with Coffee Cup and Lap Top…. tiptoeing through the blogesphere and seeing what everyone else is doing this morning.  This is also my favorite time of the day.  Pre – rush.  Sure the day will soon hold for me a workout session, returning to the ugly sweater search (see yesterdays post), a little bit of Christmas shopping as I haven’t even started yet, picking up my meatballs for making my appetizer for tonight’s party, and maybe a quick trip to J C Penneys as I am in that rare mood where I want to shop.

This morning while drinking Cameron’s Holiday Charm Peppermint Stick coffee (had to try it – it sounded so festive!) I found a couple points of interest at blogs I like to visit.

Jennifer over at Rundpinne has a wonderful post up about a book called Pearl Girls, encountering grit, encountering grace.  The cover is super fabulous and it is written by 60 authors telling short stories!  Anyway – stop over and see Jennifer, say hi, and take a look at this review.  All proceeds of the books are going to two charities and that is really a wonderful thing!

AND

For the YA lover in me (addict is probably not too harsh a word…) I found a book that has my attention over at Between The Pages.  The book is called Just Breeze and the girl on the cover with the fabulous long red hair really caught my attention.  The storyline did as well.  This is another spot I encourage you to stop over and check out.  Between The Pages blog header is fantastic so be sure to take a look at that as well.

So on that note…  I am off to prep my review for later today…. and would like to leave you now with the song that will not leave my head. Sorry – but I think this is fitting.  🙂  Have a great day everyone!

Second cup of coffee this morning and trying to get functional enough to take the dogs down the road to where they get their hair cut.  The snow is falling lightly outside and there is now a light dusting covering my world.  While I am not excited about the snow, I know it is inevitable and I am thankful that it took this long to start falling as we will be in snow mode now until around April.

I am a little melancholy this morning and I think it is due to the fact that next weekend we see  our oldest son off to boot camp in the Navy.  A bitter sweet moment.  On one hand I am excited for him as he is moving forward and doing something positive with his life.  On the other hand… I am his mom, and he will be leaving two days before his 22nd birthday and this will be our first Christmas without him.

Ok – on a lighter note (MUCH LIGHTER) I have to go and find sweaters today for Al and I for the annual Ugly Sweater party we are invited to annually at our friends home.  Nothing like a good ugly sweater to cheer you up…LOL

Here is last years picture of Al and I…

I felt like a character in a Dr Suess book….. 😉