Meanderings – Page 46

Morning Meanderings… It Is A Small World

Published on December 20, 2013December 20, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Friday! There is a happy dance going on here! Almost like a starting line really as I have not even put our tree up yet. I know right? Life gets busy and I well.. yeah. Today’s the day. I am also not done Christmas shopping… but between today and tomorrow… I plan to be. 🙂

Recently (yesterday) I won a copy of the upcoming gorgeous looking book, Evertrue from Amber at Me, My Shelf, and I. When Amber emailed me for my address and I responded back, she emailed me this:

Shut up. I could drive this to you!

Turns out, Amber lives about two hours from me in Minnesota. 🙂 I love that!

I also recently had a win of a bookish ornament from Ashley at Papyrusaurus that arrived in the mail yesterday. How cute is this:

This morning I am having brunch here at the house with three great friends. We will do our little Christmas exchange and hang out over great coffee and conversation. Then this afternoon I have coffee with another friend, and then tonight we attend an annual Christmas party of friends. In between all of that, I will be trying out a couple of caramel variations off my recipe and maybe… maybe a little shopping.

Hope this start to your weekend is wonderful!

Oh – and I have two giveaways going on – dont miss out:

Platform 21 book

Percy Jackson Sea Of Monsters DVD

Morning Meanderings… An Old Post Keeps Picking Up Traffic (ooh – and a giveaway!)

Published on December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Good Morning! How ya all doing this morning? I am just back from the gym and that makes me happy. I feel as though I have accomplished something positive when I start my day out that way. 🙂

For those of us who have been blogging books for a while, do you ever see a post you wrote a long time continue to get hits? Not only hits, but discussion? That’s the may my Lightning Thief Movie Spoiler Page has been.

At first when I seen in my email that post was receiving traffic I figures it was spam. After all, I wrote this post in early 2010. However, upon closer look – no, they are still commenting – still fired up by the differences of the book to the movie. Isn’t is funny how us book lovers get all worked up about movies changing our books? 🙂

Lightning Thief as a book was really good. Way to go Rick Riordan! *knuckle bump* And Lightning Thief the movie was really good. If you read the book AND seen the movie..well, thus the spoiler post.

I have been curious for some time now if they were going to do another movie. There are after all, there are after all 5 books in this series (my College son loved them!). So super funny and coincidental that I was contemplating this post, when yesterday I was offered by Think Jam Digital to have a giveaway here for a Blue Ray bundle of The Sea Of Monsters DVD (2nd book in the series). This DVD has just been released to the public for sale – but here, you can sign up to win the movie as a well as a companion comic book. Kind of a sweet deal, and I admit – I am curious about this movie.

Enter for a chance to win the Percy Jackson Sea Of Monsters Blu-ray Combo Pack and exclusive Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Sea Of Monsters comic book!

Synopsis

The magical, mythical adventures of teenager Percy Jackson — son of the Greek god Poseidon — continue in this heroic, action-packed thrill ride! Out to prove he’s not just a “one-quest wonder,” Percy and his demigod friends embark on an epic, cross-country journey into the treacherous Sea of Monsters, where they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate evil. With time running out, Percy must find and bring home the fabled Golden Fleece, which has the power to save his world…and save us all!

Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters 3D Blu-ray Deluxe Edition,

available on Blu-ray and DVD December 17

For a chance to win your copy of the Blu-ray, just answer the question below:

Percy Jackson is the son of which of the Greek Gods?

Poseidon

Zeus

Hades

I will post a winner on Sunday morning – December 22nd.

Be sure to follow Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Twitter @FoxHomeEnt for the latest Blu-ray & DVD releases

I am curious, have you read any of the Rick Riordan books? I admit, I have only read the first one as of this time.

Morning Meanderings….Every Library Needs Friends

Published on December 18, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Good morning everyone! Midway through the week already! I don’t know if I should be thrilled or panicked! 😀 Next week we as a staff have made the decision to put all of our hours and efforts into Monday and Tuesday and then we are going to close the office the rest of the week, probably working close to 12 hours each of those two days. That means, I need to be ready for Christmas by Sunday night. EEP!

Recently I had written a post about helping out with the Christmas decorating at our Local Library. As a Friend of The Brainerd Public Library, we have our own decorations and we set up trees and lights, and wreaths and jazzed the place up the first part of December. Someone at that time had commented that they did not know the friends did that – and while I am sure all Libraries are not the same, and all friends groups do not function the same… I wanted to put a plug in for joining. 😀

As books, (probably obviously…)are a big part of my life – I naturally wanted to be involved in my local Library. When I signed up as a friend I really did not know what they did. Two years later – I am still learning. 😀

The Friends Groups are a group that supports the library through fundraising efforts and we assist the library with purchases an needs that are not necessarily covered by the libraries budget. As Dawn in our Friends group put it, we are the icing on the cake. Our money raised goes for the little extras – our group personally helps with movie licensing so movies can be checked out at the library, we purchase additional copies of best-selling books (if you are from the area – when you walk in the library and see that white stand to the right that is our contribution of best sellers and these books and audio do not go on the wait list – if you are lucky and pop in at the right time you may find that coveted book!). We assist in bringing authors in to the library (during June we bring in a Minnesota author each Monday), we assist in reading programs for children, the holiday open house and so much more. We have two used book sales a year, and this past year added the Wine and Words event that was soooo fun we plan to do it yearly (mark your calendars – August 22, 2014). This year we also have been working with a group of Teenagers to try to get books in their lives and create venues from their perspectives to make the teen area of our library something incredible.

My point in sharing this today is that I encourage you – Lover Of Books ( I say this in my best Narnia “Daughters Of Eve” voice) to inquire at your library about a friends group. There is a yearly fee – ours is $5. This goes directly into supporting our library and gives you the keys to the adventures of the Friends. I can’t speak for all friends groups but I have seen some pretty amazing ones out there and have to say ours I believe is pretty awesome as well.

There it is. My friends plug. 😀 Have a super day – I have a full one! If you have any questions about Friends groups please ask – if I dont know the answer I will try hard to find out! If you are a Friend of your library, I would love to hear about the things that you do!

Morning Meanderings… Merry Christmas to me the KOBO has arrived!

Published on December 17, 2013December 17, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Happy Tuesday ya’ all! The fact that you are reading this means that we all survived Monday! WOO HOO!

I had to share this morning that my KOBO win from Alison’s contest she had has arrived. I am super excited to give it a try and am downloading the information now as I type to activate this baby! 😀

**Not sure what is up with the “fuzzy” picture my camera is taking… lighting maybe?**

I love the size of it. It looks to be about 7 inches tall and 5 inches wide. A great size to slip in my purse! I already ordered a little case for it to protect it.

In other news I have been a baking fool…. I have made so many batches of caramels that they are everywhere…. and tonight I plan to make 3 double batches more. Tomorrow is our office staff party and along with a suet holder and homemade suet for the birds (thanks Leslie for that recipe!) that is my gift of the year. I have another gathering Friday morning, and a few gifts to drop off Friday afternoon as well as a Christmas Party Friday night. *whew* Tis the season…

Anyhoo… next question is.. what to download first on that KOBO?

Ok… must get ready for work! Have an awesome day everyone!

Morning Meandering… Sunday Update with Book Suggestions

Published on December 15, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Happy Sunday! I have about 45 minutes before I get ready for church but enjoy doing this Sunday post so here we go. 😀

Time: 8:15 am

Place: That recliner I love so much in the living room

Eating/Drinking: a mocha coffee in the Tossimo coffee pot. No food yet…

Reading: Starting Platform 21 by T R Patrick

Listening to: Array of awesomeness…. Red Hill by Jamie McGuire (you will see why below) and Parkland by Vincent Bugliosi (listening to this one in the car and it is powerful!)

Blogging: Like a mad woman. I suddenly realized that due to my “hiatus” earlier this year I may not finish my reading goal of 100 books this year. I have many books I have read but nor reviewed yet… I know it is not a big deal… just the competitor in me. 😛

Anticipating: Coming home this afternoon, I am making homemade caramels and want to document it for my :Weekend Cooking” post yes, with recipe 😀

Hating: That the weekend is almost over. I could use another day or two… it has been awesome.

Loving: That both boys will be home for Christmas this year and unlike Thanksgiving, we will not have to run around but instead just hang out here surrounded by good food, movies and board games. 😀

In other news, I found a few interesting reads while I was blog reading this week. Normally I post these earlier in the week but every day I had something to chat about and did not do it… so here it is now:

Carrie over at Books and Movies posted this review of Red Hill and I was instantly engaged… so much so, it is what I am listening to now.

Girl XOXO had a new title to me, Snow White Must Die. It sounds interesting.

Book’d Out posted about The Recipe Box which sounds like my kind of read.

Lakeside Musings post on Tell The Wolves I Am Home and I am for sure going to read this one!

That’s it. Hope your day is wonderful. 😀 Are you doing anything fun today? Decorating? Shopping? Baking? Curled up with a book or audio?

Morning Meanderings… Holiday “Bookin It!”

Published on December 14, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)78 Comments

Good morning! Happy Saturday! It is for me as the commitments today are low (WOO HOO!!!)

Yesterday I spent a little time on projects that I have put off for a while. One was cleaning out the freezer (always a delightful task) and the other was putting a little love into the book room. Let’s just say that the books that I bought mid August from the library sale were still in the room in the box I brought them home in.

With a little help from my audio friends, Eleanor and Park I went to work. Here are the pictures that I am putting up for Saturday Snapshot this week of the results of that project:

**This is as you walk into the room. Note – the table is a new addition. This is the table from the demolition Al did last month. It is a gorgeous piece that I plan on refinishing in the spring.**

**Here is a close up of the table. Oh and my rug… I love my rug too 🙂**

**And this is the room from the other end facing back towards the door (which you can see open on the right).**

The room, that used to be two bedrooms when I grew up here, and then was Al’s office until we built on to the shop, became a book room about 7 years ago. It used to be an assortment of book shelves but last fall we had a friend of ours put wall to wall shelves in the room and wala! Here we are.

Next Friday I am having friends over for a Christmas brunch and I think we will sit in there! 😀

For today, this morning I am off to the gym with my friend Kate who makes me go when “I don’t want to!” but it is a good thing. 😀 This afternoon my project is to get started on making caramels for our office staff. Our Christmas party is Wednesday and I think this will be a fun gift… I will post pictures! 😀

Have a great Saturday! Oh and check out Saturday Snapshot!

Morning Meanderings… Sustaining

Published on December 13, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning! Happy Friday. I am thrilled to be at the end of another week with no major “to do’s” over the next few days.

Earlier this week I was looking at my blog dashboard at the posts that have received the most comments. I randomly chose a book discussion from 2010 and clicked on the links to those who had left comments. I was pleased to see that many of them were still active bloggers. Sure there were several that were no longer blogging, and if you are a long term blogger you probably know at least one or two that you used to read that no longer are active.

I think what I enjoyed most about this little “travel back in blog time” was how many blogs I was able to revisit years later and find them still talking books. It made me realize that we are still a strong force of book lovers. I love knowing that. It re energizes me to see us out there doing what we love… talking books. 😀

I may get a little shopping done this weekend for Christmas, I need to spend a little time in the book room too doing a little reorganizing. Maybe those pics will be my Saturday post.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and you are all taking this holiday time with stride and joy!

Below are a few challenges I am hosting going into the New Year. Click the picture to check them out. 😀

Morning Meanderings…. The Bookies Christmas

Published on December 12, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning! This post was supposed to go up yesterday morning but I over slept, missed my morning work out and by the time I prepped the pictures it was time for me to get read for work.

Ahhhh… the best laid plans…

Tuesday was our Annual Christmas party for the Bookies. Along with our review of The Christmas Grandma Ran Away From Home by Nancy Warren, we had a fun home made gift exchange.

Review first…. “meh”. I will not be doing a full review here as I did not read it. We accidentally chose a book that was an e read only and when I heard it was only 45 pages I thought I would read it a few days before our meeting… and then…. life happened, busy with other things and I did not get it done. Shortest book in Bookies 12 year history and I do not finish. 😯 For those that did read it they said it had many holes and felt unfinished. It wasn’t a bad read, just not great although those with busy loves like me were grateful that it was such a quick book.

The gift exchange was a lot of fun. We have always done a gift exchange but this year we added the twist of it having to be homemade. Insert *gulp* here. While not a crafty person really, I did come through in a inch with the Christmas bulbs filled with snowflakes from the Same Sweet Girls book and my first attempt at homemade caramels which came out AWESOME! 😀

Below you will see what everyone wound up with:

The pic of me is me wearing my gift (SCORE!) It is a nice thick knitted head band that covers my head and ears – great for outdoors. LOVE IT!!!!

IN fact… I love it so much…. I wore it to work on Wednesday:

Morning Meanderings… The Day Of The Bookies Christmas Party!

Published on December 10, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Good morning! How ya all doing this fine Tuesday? I have been up and at the gym and home to my coffee and a quick post to you. Tonight is our December book club meeting and Christmas party… always a good time!

This year, we decided for our gift exchange that we had to make home-made gifts. 😯 In true fashion, I have procrastinated on this until last night when I finally realized what I wanted to do was not going to happen so I went a completely different route. Instead I made these:

I took one of our book clubs favorite reads through the years Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King, and snowflake punched several pages. I then put the flakes into the little Christmas bulbs here and decorated with ribbon. Same Sweet Girls is the book that created our July Queen event… plus, we as the Bookies, really are the same sweet girls. If time allows, I plan to try my hand later this afternoon at homemade caramels to “sweeten” the deal…. get it? Sweeten? 😛

So hopefully none of the girls attending tonight read this post today as our gifts will be brown paper wrapped and we roll dice to see who gets what…. excited to see how it goes!

Are you in a book club?

If you are, do you do anything special for the holidays?

Sunday… Walking Dead, Catching Fire… my it is an active life

Published on December 8, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good Morning! I have not put together one of these posts in a while but each week I admire the way at Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness writes up her Sunday post so thought I would take a bit of direction from her.

Time: 8:33 am

Place: The comfy recliner in our living room with my favorite blanket

Consuming: So far just coffee but an egg white omelet is calling my name

Watching: I am deeply involved (ADDICTED!) to The Walking Dead. I know.. I know… I never dreamed I would like such a show. My friends have raved about it to the point that I picked up the first three seasons on the Thanksgiving weekend sales. Now, half way through season two.. I have to say it is keeping me up at night watching.

Reading: ugh… I am just starting a book, All That You Could Ask For, that I meant to start yesterday but time did not allow. What I should be reading is our book club book that we will discuss on Tuesday.

Listening to… an array of “OK” audio. The new Ann Rule in my car just did not engage me, and while Killing Jesus is interesting (wow… does that sounds wrong…) I am not finding myself as fully invested as I was in Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln and I think I know why. It will make for an interesting review.

Making: Today I need to create something for Book Club. We decided this year our gift exchange would be homemade gifts. I have an idea… just need to get it done. Also – tonight I will be making dinner for Brad and Al…. Thai chicken is calling my name and a great butternut squash… (LOVE squash).

Blogging: This week seemed to have been the week for me to put up posts to engage others in. I put up two 2014 challenges –

2014 WHERE Are You Reading Challenge

2014 Bucket List Challenge

and I put up a New Years 1st Book Of The Year event

Anticipating: This afternoon I am going to Catching Fire (again!) with my friend Amy. Her first time seeing it, my second. It is her birthday and we were supposed to go opening night and she was unable to go. Cant wait to see it with her!

Also, looking forward to a semi quiet day. This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. I spent most of the day Friday and half the day Saturday helping at the Library. Last night we had a Christmas party to attend and a birthday party. I came home around midnight, great stuff…. but I hate overbooked schedules, they wipe me out.

Which, is probably a good description of me at this time… wiped out. I just need a few hours to re-energize. Today is the perfect day to do it. I little blog visiting, a little reading… I will be back up and moving before you know it. 😀