Category: Meanderings

Hey there!  How have you been?  Whassup?  😀

I had no plans of going MIA on this blog this week but wow… apparently life had other plans.  After the back to back retreats that kicked off the month, then picking up College Son in Mankato with his broken foot… THEN getting stuck home in a snow storm and returning the aforementioned son on Monday in a white knuckled 4 hour drive back to his campus in less than fun driving conditions…

I then proceeded to come home Monday night wiped out from the STRESS driving, Tuesday I worked and then went directly to the grocery store (did not pass go… did not collect my $200) where I picked up my items for book club – was home all of 40 minutes before off to Book Club I went and trust me.. it was awesome, more on that later today… Home around 10 pm, work on Wednesday, then home for an hour then back to work with the students like I do most Wednesdays, then home at 8 pm where I proceed to watch a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey (do not judge.. more on that another day!)…

THEN Thursday I worked, shopped for salad makings, home about an hour and off to mt friends Chad and Amy’s home where I have a tradition now of spending Valentines Day with them as Al (hubby) is usually in Florida this time of year for the equipment auctions.  I was at their home until 10 pm then home, one episode on Downton and then bed.  TIRED.

This morning I am free until 3 pm where I then drive to the cities for a Board Meeting for camp and then will be back home around 10. 

SO yeah… my week has went like that.  😯

Looking ahead, I have a few things going on Saturday but Sunday will be wonderfully quiet and next week is much less crazy train and more chill.  YAY!!!

What I miss most in busy times like this is books.  I just have not had the time to sit down and enjoy a book for more than a few pages at all this month.  Maybe on Sunday…. 😀

Hows your week shaping up?  Any fun things planned?

Good morning!  Happy February 10th!  I had a wonderful birthday yesterday.  I spent it with my College Son hanging out at home watching LOST episodes (I have seen the whole series but it is new to him).  We went out to lunch and later went out with friends for awhile.  It really was a great day!

Now -for new books that came in the house this week and I think, some are from last week to:

You may notice the REALLY BIG green sunglasses and they go with The Shining Read A Long for February.  You will see them again during my review.

So that’s the haul… I obviously have some good reading to do.  😀  How about you – anything exciting come your way this week?

Good morning!  Grabbing a quick bite to eat this morning and then heading out the door shortly to go pick up College Son who last weekend broke hid foot and is in a cast up to his knee and can not drive. 

So off to Mankato this morning, a 3 1/2 hour road trip one way so I will be on the road about 8 hours today, back early afternoon.  Justin will stay with me for the weekend and I will take his home Sunday afternoon. 

Of course that translates for me = AUDIO!  I am currently listening to The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott (good!) and Killing Kennedy (really really good!).  I am thinking of Bringing Hunger Games on audio with me or perhaps a Harry Potter one, something that we can listen to together on the way back… 🙂  I also have Gone Girl…. decisions decisions….

How are you spending the start to your weekend?

Good morning!  I only have a few minutes this morning, life has returned to normal and I am off to work this morning… first time in a week so really no complaints here. 😀

I wanted to share with you something I read this morning over my coffee…. I read about the current top 10 literate citied and I found it interesting:

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Seattle, Wash.
3. Minneapolis, Minn.
4. Pittsburgh, Pa.
5. Denver, Colo.
6. St. Paul, Minn.
7. Boston, Mass.
8. Atlanta, Ga.
9. St. Louis, Mo.
10. Portland, Ore.

You know I am cheering for my home state Minnesota.  Yeah, that’s right… I dont get into sports much but I would wear the big foam finger to a bookish event going “Yeah… that’s right… we bad… We’re #3!  We’re #3!”

Ok… perhaps a bit much, but you get the point. 😀

Today I work, I have a couple of errands, later I work out, it’s going to be an awesome day 😀

Good morning from Trout Lake Camp!  I am at the morning of our final day at camp.  The agenda this morning is breakfast, a quick wrap up of the retreat and then we are heading home.

Home!

I feel like I have not been there for days!  It will be so wonderful to go home and just BE. 😀  We had a great time the last few days, ping-pong, card games, hanging out, I even had a nap yesterday.  Now, I am ready to get home.  Al is in Florida for the next three weeks so the dogs and I will be hanging out and working out and getting in some good reading time!  I am excited about all of the above 😀

 I will have a review up this afternoon and this morning I wanted to leave you with this super fun picture I seen this morning on the Shelf Awareness email.:

According to the Shelf Awareness email, New York Public Library had 281 children + 1 cat come to an event that broke the world Guinness Book Of Records for people wearing the cat in the hat, hat.

Makes you wonder… what World record could we readers break?

Good morning!  Happy Friday!  Lots of stuff happening around here in the next 6 days so I am basking in this little time I have this morning to enjoy some coffee, eggs, and chatting with you. 😀

This morning I put up the 12K Challenge over at Team Kickin It.  Yes, today is kick off day and I am excited to see where this challenge goes for everyone who signed up for it. 

Now in the midst of a half filled suitcase, laundry in the dryer, food on the counter and a “to do” list, I am preparing for back to back retreats over the next 6 days.  No, I couldn’t plan this if I tried.

First, many months ago the AIDS Camp that I am on the board for thought it would be fun to do a three-day retreat at the camp.  The days were chosen for February 1 -3.  Awesome I thought, I have nothing going on.  Then, a couple of months ago, the staff I work with thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we did a staff retreat.  That sounded cool, we would all go hang out together for a few days at a camp about an hour away.  They chose the dates February 4 -6.  😯  Yup.  Seriously, I could not make this up.

So….. today I need to be at Camp Benedict by 2:00 pm.  I will be home on Sunday early afternoon and then need to be at Trout Lake Camp by noon on Monday.  I will be home on Wednesday afternoon.

I am taking my laptop so I should be on-line and checking in and writing posts.  Things like this make me a bit buggy… so much going on but I have to break it down to one day at a time or I can overwhelm myself.  I am hoping for some reading and relaxation time as well.

Good morning.  I am off early today having arranged a CRAZY err.. fun morning at the gym doing Group Power at 5:45 am.  😀

On Monday I listed the books I planned on reading this week and then… in yesterday mail came a book I had ordered:

With the movie being released on February 14th I feel like I have been missing out on something by not having read this one.  Amazon says this about the book:

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

I didn’t realize until it arrived that is was 563 pages.  😯  A real chunkster!  Perhaps… I should have gone with audio…. 😀

Have you read Beautiful Creatures?  Do you plan to see the movie?

Good morning!  It’s Sunday and it is going to be a good day.  I am incredibly sore from going back to group power yesterday after 7 months of not attending.  OW..but in a good way, it felt good to work muscles that apparently have been laying dormant for quite some time.

I didn’t have a post last Sunday since I was coming home from the North Shore, so I am catching up with two weeks of books that come in the house:

Shattered by Dani Pettrey

QUIET, the Power Of Introverts by Susan Cain

The Dogs Of Winter by Bobbie Pyron

Sweet Tea Revenge by Laura Childs

Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason

Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

Dancing To The Flute by Manisha Jolie Amin

The Comfort Of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers

The Best Of Us by Sarah Pekkanen

I have some good reading ahead of me!  And speaking of good reading, later today will be my review of The Gilly Salt Sisters and it is going to be a review you will not want to miss!  2013 has been a great year so far for GUSHING about books. 😀