Category: Meanderings

I arrived back home from our girls craft weekend last night about 9:00 pm.  I already have ran to Church this morning, have a baby shower I am helping with at 2:00 pm and a dinner commitment at 5 pm…. but had to pop in with an update 😀

We really had a good time over the last couple of days hanging out, laughing, and crafting. We actually crafted from noon on Friday until 10 pm at night – only stopping because we all agreed to shut down the activity and go watch a movie together.  Of course we were back at it Saturday morning…

So much fun!  I have never used a Cri-cut before but of course now… I want one.  Thankfully Sara’s mom had about 30 of the Cri-cut cartridges so we were able tobe really creative – here is some of what we came up with in the end:

That was the weekend!  Great time with the girls and were planning on doing it again in January after the craziness of the holidays.  😀

Reading was minimal – we were up talking until 2:30 in the morning on Friday night (Saturday morning really) … however I have finished Night Circus and hope to have that review up today.  😀

Good morning!  😀

I am drinking tea this morning as I don’t want to make a whole pot of coffee.  No, I am not sick.  😛

I am heading to the cabin in a few hours here for a girls crafting weekend – MUCH NEEDED GET AWAY!

The past two weeks have been crazy busy, a lot of multi tasking day and night and this has been my “eye on the reward”.  😀

It will be me, Amy, Sara, and Cindy and we are doing words on tiles which excites me to no end!  (I never seem to run out of words.  We will be staying in having chili tomorrow night and fajitas on Saturday.  We are probably heading back this way late Saturday evening.

For the most part I will be unplugged… no internet service at the cabin and since this is an “in house” event – I suspect I would be frowned upon if I were to sneak out in the morning to my usual coffee shop haunt to write posts.  😯

In my once organized world I would have had posts up and reviews, but I am caught up on reviews unless Don’t Blink on audio finishes up today while I run errands this morning and then I do not think I will have time to write it.

I was up at 5 am, packed, prepped a package that must (MUST!) go int the mail today, searching for my copy of Monsters and Men for the trip, next I am grocery shopping, post office, and I would like to make one more stop at the re-store for tiles – which my friends think is hilarious as I have a stock pile of tile… but, you know when they run out miles away from a store… I am going to up sell them 😀

Any weekend plans for you?

Good morning!  😀

I thought my week was going to be a bit more mellow.  I was wrong… but in a good way.  😀  Monday was insane and Tuesday… well Tuesday was Book Club.  😀

If you are a regular reader of Book Journey, you certainly have heard me brag up the Bookies… well… fair warning… I am about to do it again.  😛

What is not to love about a book club that goes the extra mile?  Puts a little “oomf” into the reviews with background information, printouts, and yeah… the occasional dress up too. 

Last night we reviewed our October Classic pick:  Pride and Prejudice.  To spice the review up we encouraged everyone to wear hats, and for those who wanted to go the extra mile – dress the Regency period.  Two of the gals that for sure were going to dress up with me wound up having to play in a kick ball tournament Tuesday night and unable to attend.  I thought for sure I would be the only one who was really getting into the book….

Oh yea of little faith Sheila….

I walked into our restaurant we were meeting at and there were the Bookies, most in hats, and a few that dressed the full era.  Ahhh…. I lobe my book club.

Here is a sample of whats to come… more pics will be up later today with my review and the Bookies review of Pride and Prejudice.  (Next month we are reading Cleopatra… hmmm…… )

Good morning!  😛

Mmm…. COFFEE CUP and I are enjoying a quiet start to the day.  Crazy how dark it is now at 7:06 am… gah… I am not looking forward to the coming season. 

My original plan this morning was to get up early and hit the gym… I have decided the only time I can guarantee is free time for me (non scheduled) is the hours between 5 and 7 a.m.  Well, yesterday I went to Group Power with my friend Wendy for the first time in months – pretty much pre-injury in June.  Lets just say it is not a good sign when you start hurting DURING class….  😯

So yeah… today I hurt… but it is a good hurt.  AND I will hit the gym tomorrow morning.

 

If you were reading my meanderings at the end of last week I was sharing that my book club was reading Pride and Prejudice for our annual Classic Read in October.  As of Friday… I had not opened the book, but being optimistic… I had a plan to get it done before B- Day (Book Day) which is uhhh… errrr…..

today.

The plan was a simple math one:  375 pages.  I had three days – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  That’s 125 pages a day.  Doable?  Yes.  If I could dedicate 3 hours each day to reading it would be an average of 41.6 pages an hour.  I would even have time to grab a cup of coffee!  😛  Really it was only 1.4 pages a minute.    See…. doable.  😀

So…. did I do it?

Ummmm….

not yet.

As it seems to go with us readers, life happened and I think I actually spent more time listening to audio this weekend while I cooked and cleaned than I did reading. 

Will I be done by our 6:30 meeting tonight?  I think so… or I will be close.  I am over 100 pages short right now, but should have an hour to an hour and a half to read before I go tonight.  I will just have to skip the coffee… 😀

Do you have any book deadlines to share?  Funny moments where you are trying to squeeze more reading into your day?

 

Good morning. 

I believe…

I am back.  😛

It has been a crazy busy week and while I still have a few things to tend to throughout the weekend… at least I think it is safe to say life has mellowed to a low “hummmmmm” of energy. 

I think anyway…

I am really still at the Church I stayed overnight in for the IHN program.  I have cleaned up the kitchen and dining areas and am sitting here with COFFEE CUP (not mine, but a coffee cup all the same) waiting for my co-volunteer Jennifer to return with the van that delivered everybody back to the day center.

Next stop: HOME.

I have a book review up today and really need to get cracking on Pride and Prejudice for next weeks book club.  😛  Yes… P & P … first time around and I am going to try (try try try) to finish it in record time.  On the semi bright side… I have been wanting to ride my bike all week as it has been GORGEOUS here in Minnesota and not this morning it is really really windy and a bike looks as though that may have to wait…. 

why is that the bright side?

I will actually stay in the house and get some reading done.  😀

Enjoy your day and the start to the weekend!!!

Good morning!!!

I feel like I have been energized…. no idea why, but here I am popping up with a plan this morning that is tight but doable….

Yesterday went something like this…

6:30 am – up get ready, write a morning post, go to work

8:00 am – work… an assortment of duties, a meting, an insurance call about my accident this summer, several IHN calls for serving the homeless this week, another family of five entering the program bringing us up to 15 people…

noon:  Still at work but multi tasking, planning more food for the IHN meal so it does not stress out my family doing the cooking, actually thawing the bbq while I am at work. 

3:00 Pm – leave work and hurry over to where we are serving to set up five beds.

4:00 pm – run home to cook the BBQ beef and get buns out of freezer to go with this.

4:30 back to where we are serving, drop off food, grab van – go pick up guests

4:45 back at serving area with all guests, do orientation with new family, help my cooking crew with their meal set up and serving.

5:30 Activity people come in and while families are still eating I tour them through the program, introduce them, and help with kitchen clean up

6:20 take one of the teens serving to Band practice and then drive home

6:40 start making dinner for Al and I

7:00 pm we go downstairs to watch the recording we have of Amazing Race

8:20 pm – Al goes to bed… I start reading the book I need to have done for the magazine article.

11:30 – Done with book… jot down a few thoughts so I can write the review in the morning… off to bed.

This morning, review is written, I am getting for work, I work until 3:00, I am with the IHN program after work until probably 7:30 tonight after I do orientation with my overnighters tonight.  Tomorrow, I am one of the overnighters.

Yes – crazy… but somehow it is juggling well and the light at the end of the tunnel is Friday afternoon I am done serving, my volunteers from that point on are repeat servers so really know what to do and I have the weekend to catch up on other life things… like Pride and Prejudice due to be read by Tuesday for book club.  😯

Have an awesome day!!!

Morning 😀

Ok…. here goes.  SO yesterday Morning I posted about my book review due to the Her Voice magazine by October 5th and what could I be reading and reviewing under the Christmas/Holiday genre they requested of me…

well the answer is….

Nil, zero, naught/nought, zilch, zip, nada, diddly-squat, squat

I tried… I really did.  Christmas style reads are really not my thing… they tend to be too light, too fluffy, too neat, and so sugary sweet sweet sweet that  you want to throw up a bit in your mouth.  (sorry about the graphic visual there, but that’s the way I feel).  My books need meat…

So I tried… I posted for suggestions and you gave them to me and still nothing hit what I was looking for.  I wanted an author that was new or little known… I wanted a book that had a Christmas story, but had action as well.  And I wanted it to be a pleasant surprise that I could honestly say, “curl up with a blanket this winter and enjoy this read!”

But… with a deadline hovering… I still had nothing.

Desperate times….

I went to our local book store today and gathered the two employees working and told them my story.  I told them I wanted different, I wanted exciting, I wanted….

well… we all searched the store for “the book” and time and again they would walk up to me with a book I would turn down.  Then, the bookoligist (my word), came running down the rows of books yelling, “organ transplant!  Organ transplant!”

I asked her if she has tourette’s. 

No, she had a book… and while it is a Christmas read… I think it may have potential.  The book is:

Nora Peterson’s twins are seniors in high school and she has planned the perfect Christmas for them. Christi and Charlie are fraternal twins with the invisible bond that many twins experience. Christi is budding artist and during this holiday season Charlie is playing one of Santa’s elves. The holiday season is moving perfectly until a tragic accident shakes the Peterson’s home and threatens to overwhelm them.

Jenna Montgomery is a single mother who works as an emergency room nurse. This Christmas season she only has one wish, finding her daughter a new heart. Jenna’s daughter Heather has been living with a weak heart and becomes weaker each passing day…

So this is my read for the next day – digging in last night and continuing today… as time is a ticking…. 

In other crazy news… I messed with my new Smart Phone (1st smart phone experience) yesterday and somehow lost how to answer it.  It rang and rang, and all I could do was go to call logs, see who called me and then call them back.  GAH. 

I wasnt around a lot yesterday and probably the same today with the review hanging over my head… but I do have an audio review coming up today!

Good morning!

BIG ol’ sip from COFFEE CUP*

Banned Books Week is officially over.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of work too.  There were a few of you that signed up mid-week to participate and I just did not have the time to connect with you and add you… lets just say it got a little crazy trying to make sure I had all the links  of everyone participating each day.  😀  (you can still get in on this giveaway by linking and picking up the clues here…. and then filling out the form here.

Today I hop into our serving week for IHN, yes it is that time again where I work with a team to house the homeless for one week and that starts today.  I  am pretty set with volunteers, just need to do some set up, food shopping, and a lot of orientation throughout the week with new volunteers. 

It will be a busy week.  😛

So what is this welcome me to the new century about?  I think I am the last person in my office to get a smart phone.  Up until yesterday I was still on my flip cell phone that had pretty much lost its flipping powers the week before.  It was at the point if I shut it, it would shut off.  It would not hold a charge and as much as I was all gaga over it two years ago when we contracted our cell phones…

I no longer found it cute.

So off I went yesterday to come up with a new plan.  Literally.  I wound up at Sprint as my two sons SWEAR by Sprint and I liked that nothing was limited – no limited data plan, no limited text or phone minutes….

My only fear…

was this too much phone for me?

The salesman assured me it was not. 

After a switch of my accounts to Sprint (awkward by the way – their shop is right next door to Sprint… I walked over, received my account info and walked back to Sprint. )  BUT – better plan, less money, more phone… how could I not?

And seriously –

ain’t she pretty?

I am obviously still very new to the fancy phone world but I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I text by talking…. of course picking up my emails and having internet access is pretty sweet too…

I have yet to figure out the camera (I can take a pic but where doe s it go?)

How to link Twitter and Facebook…

And although my hubby called me and I could not figure out how to answer…. eventually I got there.  😳  This is by no fault of the salesman who was awesome and told me how to do all of this stuff… I just hit information overload…. got home and went… huh?  😛

Ok – got to run but will be back later with a review …. and a winner…. (or two)