Category: Meanderings

Morning Meanderings… A Bookish Weekend

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning!  😀

The sun is out (*fingers crossed) and hopefully we can stay dry and start soaking up this rain!  My yard is good, but I went on two bike rides in the past few days  with my friend Kate, and then Amy, and we seen flooded yards and streams about to spill over.  It is eerie…. but not as crazy as Duluth.

My weekend has been fairly low-key, I have read a bit both Friday and Saturday.  I listened to audio while weeding my garden, cleaning out a spare room, boxing up books I am shipping out tomorrow afternoon, and mowing.  Today I will have a little more of the same while I complete laundry, the lawn… and perhaps this afternoon sit in my swing for a while with a book 😀

I really love weekends like this.

This past week I received a video in my email that just this morning I finally watched.  It’s a recap of world book night, something many of us book lovers were involved in (I handed out Hunger Games) and I have a feeling next year it will be even bigger.  Watch this short 90 second video and then know at the end, I call dibs on making those cupcakes… I have an idea for that 😀 

Have a SUPER Sunday everyone!  My blog hop giveaway is still going on for a book of choice valued up to $20 at Amazon or Book Depository. 

Oh and I am a super goob (yes I said goob!) I totally forgot that my guest post was going up at Ryan’s(Wordsmithonia) yesterday, while he is on vacation, I am taking all of you to Maine!  Stop by and read all about it! 😀

Any fun things happening for you today? 

Morning Meanderings… Hopping Saturday

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

 

Good Morning!  I feel like I woke up fuzzy… and that’s not a good way to start the day.  ANOTHER gloomy day here in central Minnesota, yesterday was gorgeous and I read a little outside and went on a bike ride, but today calls for rain… again. 

ON happier notes, I am participating in Judith from Leeswammes’ Literary Blog Hop from today through the 23rd.  I am giving away a book of choice valued up to $20, so please check it out!  😀

On Monday I will be participating in Jen from Devourer of Books Audio Book Week and I am super excited for that too… I have many audio reviews and giveaways so make a note… it is going to be a good week 😀

Ok and finally – because of the grog fog… (I need coffee…), I will end this morning with my typical Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books. 

 

 

Every year when I go to Honduras, in front of this one store I see these two gentleman playing their music.  I am pretty sure the man on the left is the same every year. 

They really are something to watch.

I have a little snippet of video so you can hear them too:

That’s my morning post.  I am continuing to read Wife 22 today and will be starting Prophesy Of The Sisters on audio as well.

Morning Meanderings… A little Bookish Travels

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Good morning!  It is Friday and I can not tell you how happy that makes me!  FRIDAY!  It is my day off and it is a real day off!!!  By that I mean I am not buried in “to do’s”.  Laundry is caught up, the lawn (yes… my ever dreaded lawn) does not need to be mowed for a few more days… and the sun… dare I say it… is shining!

This morning I read a post over at Hurtled To 60 and Now Beyond about the real inspiration behind the book, The Secret Garden.  It really is a beautiful place And Frances Hodgson Burnet was actually a tenant there.  I encourage you to stop over and read the post – it really is fascinating and the author of the post (I could not find her name) was just there on Wednesday so this is what it truly looks like today!  Errr, well what it truly looked like two days ago!  😀

On Shelf Awareness this morning there was a lovely video called “How does a New Book Make You Feel?” 

If you get breathless watching this as you see the titles and the emotions… then… you feel like I do.  I swear, this is such a  great time in the history of our world to be a reader.

Ok – I do have one small errand this morning… Sam (our dog) is about to get his first haircut.  I am going to drop him off now and will not pick him up until this afternoon.  As for myself, I suspect if this afternoon I am not on my bike – I am for sure on the deck.  😀

It is also the last day to take my Blog Survey -which I will either pull later today or tomorrow early morning.  I will post results.

Bookish Friday – what bookish thing are you or can you add to your day?

Morning Meanderings… Sun? Then lets have a giveaway!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Good morning!  I mentioned yesterdays storms here in central Minnesota.  At that time, and now until later in the day at work did I hear about Duluth Minnesota and the animals in the zoo (a polar bear and a seal escaped when the water rose high enough they could swim out of their cages! And unfortunately, in some cases a few animals drowned).

Ok… that is a downer way to start a post.

In better news, today, if I dare say it out loud looks as though it could be….

sunny.

I hate to even say it out loud as yesterday was off and on too.  I would look out the window at work and see the sun come out and think yes!  Deck time!  Then ten minutes later it would be gray again.. than later sunny… then, well, the gray won out.

And looking at today’s forecast is calls for storms… again.

Ok.. that’s a downer post isn’t it?

Well – for now there is sun so that is what I am going with and maybe this song is premature… but I need it so here we go:

Ok – as part of my book room lets get out act together project 2012 (you will see more on this in the coming weeks…) I have a book giveaway today:

Gorgeous cover yes?  This is a duplicate for me so leave me a comment today about your EXTREME weather memories (or maybe they are current…) and I will enter you into a chance to win this book.  I will keep this open until next Tuesday.

Have a super day!

Morning Meanderings… yet another Storm WARNING hits Minnesota (this time with lawn furniture casualties…)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)40 Comments

Good morning. 😀 

Excuse while I go grab coffee cup…. I am going to need the caffeine today.

Some people leave a trail of crumbs… I have of late, left a trail of grumbles regarding our rain.  I have grumbled on both Twitter and Facebook… and yeah, I have grumbled here.  I know some of you mentioned you would love to have the remain where you are at as your weather is warm and dry….

well I am talking EXTREME rain.  AT least every day this past 7 days, and pretty much 3-4 days a week all spring it had rained.  And not pretty watch my flowers grow rain… no it is  EXTREME “batten down the hatches she’s gonna blow” rain!

Last night the wind picked up so strongly it blew my framed pictures off the coffee table next to the open window.  Al (hubby) and I thought we heard an animal cry and I went and opened our garage overhead door (much to hubby’s amusement) so the poor thing could seek refuge if needed.

This morning I woke up and it is still raining and we are supposed to get hit with another round of storms this morning.  I understand that when we have had extreme heat, but we have not. 

I took a quick walk around my squishy wet back yard this morning to see how things fared.  I had put the deck furniture away a couple of days ago so that is all fine but my yard swing did not fare so well…

This swing has been with me for 20+ years.  I know he was old, but he carried a lot of memories.  This is the swing I sat on when I got the news about my moms accident.  It is the one I rocked the boys on when they were young and the one I sat with one of my good friends was offered a promotion she was excited – and scared to take.  It has moved with us twice and sat in the yard since we moved here in 1996.

The rest of the yard was fine.  At least for this storm.  My hostas are extremely well watered.  Swimmingly even.

Now I need to get ready for work.  I am hoping this mornings storm blows by quickly and I can back to outdoor things I love like biking…rollerblading… sitting on my deck with a good book.  😀 

Share with me your stories of sunshine… I miss it 😀

Morning Meanderings… Sometimes my dorkiness even astounds me…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Good morning people of Tuesday!  I come in peace…. and with coffee 😛

Ugh…. raining AGAIN in Central Minnesota….  gloomy and gray….

The view off my back deck this morning.

Anyhoo…

YESTERDAY afternoon I came home from work.  The day had a bit of a fall feeling to it, cooler and overcast and I was going to work on some on-line stuff.  SO I grabbed my laptop, my mouse, my blanky, and popped into the recliner.  Logged on… and for the life of me, could not get the mouse to work.

*Note:  I am nothing without the laptop mouse.  It is a crutch, I know… but I can not navigate pages, scroll to comments, or I sure can not play Scrabble on Facebook because I can not figure out how to hang on to the tiles to move them into place without the mouse. 

The mouse, appears by all appearance to be working fine.  The little light on the bottom indicates a good battery.  I reset it.  I take the battery out and put the battery in.  I even get up and grab two more batteries out of the drawer and try them.  All the same results… mouse looks fine, will not work.

I… am seriously frustrated.  For some reason the mouse will not be acknowledged by the laptop. 

I…. am wasting time.

 

About 30 minutes later I get up go do something else…. as I pass by my kitchen table I see this:

 

 

For those unfamiliar with the workings of the cordless mouse, this little do-dad here is what plugs into your computer/laptop to make the mouse work.  Without it… by all appearance your mouse is going to look like it should work… it will not.  😯

😛

SO…..  once I put that little guy into my laptop side… all was well in mouse world again…. but I….

was feeling pretty foolish and wondering how that detail fell out of my head.

Moving on…. today I work, but tonight… I have no agenda.  I LOVE that!  And it is rainy but no matter, all my outdoor work – mowing, trimming, is done.  😀  Quite the opposite of last week when I had something going on every night.  😀

How is your Tuesday unfolding?  Are there books in your day?  Which one(s)?  Mine may be the conclusion on Jane Eyre and finishing up Some Girls by Sara Pekkanen as well.

Morning Meanderings… Hmmm… This or That?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Good morning.  😀  I am on up of coffee #2, #3….  listening to The Magicians on audio this morning (thank you Judith for asking on Twitter!  😀 )  and contemplating which way my day will go and for that matter… this post.

Normally on Sundays I show you what books came in this week… and I think a few did… however, after the BEA boxes arrived mid week, and lots of company and events almost every evening this week… I think I mixed them  up in the reading room and that right now… needs to be loved on – but that is another post entirely and rest assured, I have a plan and I am working on it. 😀

Instead this morning I am going to show you a movie trailer to a book I meant to read last October for banned book week but I did not get to it.  The Perks Of Being A Wallflower:

 

 

It open in mid September and that is great and means I will have to read the book before then instead of during banned book week as my rule is if at all possible I read the book before I see a movie based off a book.

As for today – it looks gorgeous outside… I have church, then I need to mow the lawn (ahhh…. audio!) I have reviews to write and prep and books to finish reading.  Hubby and I went out to dinner last night for Fathers Day, we may hot a movie later this afternoon at our newly remodeled and opened theater in town… I think we are looking at Rock Of Ages… which blows my mind that it is om Cruise.

What is on your Sunday agenda?

Morning Meanderings…Winners and Cat-Dogs

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)50 Comments

Happy Saturday everyone!  Did you know this is my favorite day of the week?  Saturdays are the one day each week I can linger a bit more in the morning without rushing out the door.  If I can, I keep them fairly open, non commitment filled… I like the options of choosing what I do with my day, at least once a week 🙂

I hope you had a chance to stop by yesterday to my annual Blogiversary Party.  It is always fun that it lands shortly after BEA so I can give away a few books and swag.  If you have a few minutes, it is well worth just reading the imaginative comments that make me smile, and occasionally laugh out loud.  (I challenge everyone to let me know how they arrive at the party and what virtual food item/or gift they brought with.  Lets just say it is going to take me weeks to get the crumbs out of my blog side bars and pretty sure there was a little cake on the header this morning too I had to clean up.  😛

SO now…. for my winners!  Using random.org, here are the winners of the packages:

Package 1 goes to:  Kaye (comment #61)

 

Package #2 goes to Julie at Read Handed

 

Package #3:  A Book Dragon’s Lair

 

Package #4:  Lydia from The Lost Entwife

 

The $10 Amazon Gift Card:  Joan (comment #45)

 

Congratulations everyone!  As soon as I have your addresses I will be able to mail out – email me at

journeythroughbooks @gmail.com

 

Ok, now that the business portion of this morning post is done I do have a picture – yes, one picture (so unlike me) for Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots.  This one I took the other day while sitting outside on the deck with a friend and my to dogs…. we were sitting in the tall chairs at the tall table and Bailey, decided to climb up on the deck table… while that was shocking enough, Sam… climbed from the deck, to the table, to the chair, leaped up on the deck railing and sat there…. like a cat.  😯

Be sure to stop by Saturday Snapshots at At Home with Books to see what other people are taking pictures of!

One last little “housekeeping” item… I am running a blog survey this week (see upper right side bar) and I would love it if you could take a minute or two to give me some feedback.  Next week after it is complete I will post the results and offer up a $10 gift card to one of the participants in this survey.  😀

Enjoy your Saturday, I am about to write a guest post for a friend and a post for later today…. then… I think I will be outside – it is gorgeous out today and I want to take full advantage!

Morning Meanderings… Presenting The Books From BEA

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)59 Comments

 

Anybody else wondering if I write reviews any more?

 

Ok… Just checking…

Seriously though, it feels like I have not written a book review in weeks.  Probably – because that is true.  I did not get any written during BEA and since I have been back I have been in a haze of keeping up on the house, the weather (oh rain… GO AWAY!) working, catching up with friends…

All good things, and I am reading – but I sit down at night to write a post and my eyes glaze over and I wind up playing a couple rounds of Scrabble on Facebook and going to bed.  😯

And now today – I am going to talk about the books from BEA because I should… and I want to.  And tomorrow, if the big Blogiversary celebration here and seriously – come – you are invited and it really is a big deal.  I have all sorts of giveaways (some will be BEA related!) and it is always a good time.  Here is a link to last years party…. SO MUCH FUN!  😀  OH and bring a guest this year – for sure 😀  (More on that tomorrow morning)

 

Anyway – back to the books.  Here is my BEA haul – thank you to my friend Heidi and her awesome daughter Camryn who came over and dug through boxes with me.  😀

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

There it is…. and I have some major organizing to do in the book room…. seriously.  😀  Hope your day is wonderful!  And really hope to see you tomorrow…. it is going to be so MUCH FUN!  😀

Morning Meanderings… Probably A Once In A Lifetime Book Sale

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Good morning and happy Tuesday!

Today is my first day back to work in 9 days.  I had all last week off for the Book Expo in New York (see my final post on that here) and then I took yesterday off to experience the Duluth Minnesota book sale – the coveted book sale for me of the past few years.

Why coveted?  Word on the street was the Duluth Library sale was the best in Minnesota.  Seems like I either missed the date each year, or had a conflict and could not go.  This year I made it.

The outside of the Duluth Library

I had some things I liked and some things not so much… here is my pro/con list for this sale:

Pro:

When in line they give you numbers so once you have your number you can go do whatever (I went to Starbucks), come back before they open at 10 am and they let you in by number. 

Con:

Many of the books were older titles (as in many years).  I am usually looking for books I have heard about recently or a couple years old. 

The cost for the large paperback I love was $1.00 each.  At Brainerd sale, they are 25 cents each. 

The quantity to me felt less than Brainerd’s although Duluth’s sale is so much bigger.

To be a friend of the Duluth Library you have to pay $10, this gets you in the first day of the sale.  Brainerd’s is $5 for the membership.

Overall it was a fun experience, I talked to some fun people in the line while I waited, but for a two hour drive one way, I don’t think I found enough to make it an annual thing.  Here is what I left with:

My biggest thrill was the hard cover of The Passage.  I have a paper back copy but that one will now go to our cabin for guest reading and the hard cover goes on my top shelf all time favs.

Curious – do you have library sales in your area?  What do you look for?