Good morning!

Last night I had rented and watched The Color Purple. I am not sure if it was the timing, as I read the book last weekend, but the movie to me was amazing. How awesome to see Whoopie Goldberg in her first movie and in the lead role as Celie. Danny Glover (who I think is an amazing actor), Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery and Rae Dawn Chong, also have important roles in this movie.

I was captivated and while I usually multi task while watching a movie (book during low points, or my lap top catching up on emails…. instead I did nothing but fully absorb this movie. If you have not had the experience of watching the movie The Color Purple I highly recommend it – but…. read the book first. The book is much more detailed and the movie flows well with the book as an appetizer.

Ok… so funny moment… half way through the dvd, the movie…. stops. I have no idea what to do…. it just went back to the main menu. I couldn’t figure out what to do. I could choose scenes, but they ended where the dvd had. So… in desperation. I flipped the dvd over like a record. It worked! And the movie continued. I don’t remember ever having to flip a dvd before! (AND…. did I age myself by using the word record? LOL)

Today – work and probably a bike ride. Not sure what from beyond that…. tomorrow I will probably take my bike in for a tune up before the big ride on Saturday. I am pretty excited about the ride and hoping and praying that we have nice weather for it.

Have a great day everyone – I am off to update my Game On Diet Journal and then out the door!  😀

G’ morning.  I stayed up way too late and now, 6 hours after I went to bed… I am up with Coffee Cup prepping for my day.  I have looked better…. 😯 and yes, 6 hours means I lost my Game On sleep points.

I took my bike out for a short jaunt yesterday late afternoon and just circled about 8 miles in the vicinity of my house.  I haven’t had time to bike ride for a while and with the big 150 mile ride coming this weekend, I thought maybe – just maybe, I should ride a bit prior.

I am excited for this ride, I took part in it last year for the first time with my cousin Jarrod and it was an amazing ride.  This particular ride is to raise money for a camp that helps kids with Aids.  This is the first time the ride starts and stops in my home town so the nice thing is I do not have to travel the night before to the starting line.  It’s actually about 7 miles from my house.

In Game On Diet news I have been doing pretty well and actually took my first two point hits yesterday by missing a meal (Doh!!!) and then not getting in my 7 hours of sleep (10 points lost I think…).  However, I did feel confident enough to step on the scale this morning and from Sundays first weigh in I am now 4.8 (almost 5!) pounds down.  No kidding.  I am shocked as well.

And finally in bookish news, the cover of Loren Oliver’s new book, Delirium has been revealed:

This book will not be out until February of 2011 but I am excited all the same… I really did enjoy her debut book, Before I Fall.

That’s it for this morning, I have work and then Group Power tonight, then I need to get home and write a couple of guest posts for my friend Trisha from Eclectic Eccentric while she vacations next week.  It will be fun and I will tell you more about these posts later….

I feel good.  This is the start to day 3 of the Game On Diet that I am participating in with 12 other bloggers and I am doing pretty well so far.  I am keeping an ongoing journal for the month here, but you can check it any time by clicking on the widget on the right sidebar.  No big ranting yet… but I am sure it is coming.  😀

Last night I made dinner for Al and I out of the Game On Diet book.  Shhh…. don’t tell Al, he has no idea what he ate was actually good for him! I made the mango chicken and it was super yummy!  The mango salsa really was amazing and I think when this is all over and we have company I am so making that salsa!

Here’s a couple of pics (because – I am a picture-taking fool!)

So good and covered all the vegie, fruit, and protein I needed out of the meal.  SO yay!  😀

Ok – other than food, I wanted to mention that while I traveled the blogosphere looking at the Monday memes and what everyone is reading – I picked up a couple I had to connect with at my local library. When blog surfing (which I have learned does not count as my twenty minutes of exercise for the Game On Diet) I like to keep my online library reserve link open so I can plug-in titles as I see them.

Ok coffee cup and I need to get a move on it.  I may bike into work this morning if I think I can do it without hitting and road work.  GAH.  I know… I said it.  ROAD WORK.

Review coming up today that is not only SQUUUEEEE worthy (and it is) it is also thought worthy.  Hope you can all stop by!  (yes, that was a bit Southern of me and I do not know why…. perhaps it is the Mango chicken….)

Good morning.  I am meandering this morning in Finland Minnesota.  Elmo, my trusty sidekick and loyal shih-tzu and I traveled to the cabin yesterday.  Between the traffic and the road work, the usual 3 hour trip took close to over 4 hours.  There was a time in Two Harbors where we just sat in single lane traffic in park for about 25 minutes.

Have I mentioned lately how much I appreciate audio?  😀

The cabin area itself is still internet free.  This morning I decided I would prep the meandering from the cabin and then drive into town and find a nice little coffee shop where I will complete this post as well as my afternoon post – my review of The Color Purple by Alice Walker.  Up to this reading, I have never read or seen the movie The Color Purple – now I can see if I can find the movie.

My goal for my short stint to the cabin was to get some cleaning done and some reading.  Last night I completes washing the sheets and towels, and cleaning the two guest rooms.  I also completed two books and I am thrilled that I have made such progress.

Today I will clean out the cupboards, wash all the dishes (don’t panic – there is not that many!),  dust, wipe down counters, sweep, mop, and vac.  I should have drought my cd player so I could listen to audio while I did most of this but that will be a note to do this in the future.

I am heading back home early afternoon to have dinner with my hubby, maybe a movie, and then tomorrow we move my son to Mankato in prep for college.  Life…. is never dull.

(turns out – I am posting this from a cafe in Silver Bay Minnesota – Northwoods cafe. )

I am heading back to the cabin this early afternoon. This time – I am going alone, well, except for my dog Elmo. Elmo LOVES to ride in cars and we just do not travel to enough places that he can go along, unlike when the kids were growing up we were on the go all the time with the dogs and the kids…. (oh the memories!)

This time I am just going for today and will be back Saturday afternoon.  My goal is to do some cleaning and a lot of reading.  Just a little break from it all.  I would stay until Sunday but we move Justin back to Mankato  on Sunday so I need to be ready to roll in that direction.

I am taking Lap Top with me as I think I can find a little coffee shop to hopefully hang out in and do a little catching up blog wise as well.  Should be a good adventure I hope – oh and audio all the way of course!  😀

That leads me to the books I am taking with, I have the books I am reading this week to work on and of course I said today I would choose my random winner from the “Choose The Next Book I Read” post.  That winner – and the book is:

Jennifer (at Jennifer Justice reads)

and her pick:

Please Stop Laughing At Me by Jodee Blanco

Adult/High School-From fifth grade through high school, Blanco was teased, shunned, and, at times, physically assaulted by her classmates because she was different. She befriended handicapped students, “ratted” on the activities of fellow 12-year-olds at her first boy/girl party, and could not bring herself to dissect a fetal pig. Her experiences with school bullies occurred in a variety of settings, including religious and private schools. At various points in this visceral memoir, Blanco fumes at the injustice of being subjected to psychiatric diagnosis and medication while her tormentors remained unbothered and oblivious, and states that “sticking up for people” and/or being different is a “social death warrant.” While her loving parents were sympathetic and supportive, their well-meant admonitions to ignore her harassers and “rise above it all” sprang from adult logic; adolescents simply interpreted her indifference as weakness. The author’s emotional torment was partly due to a breast deformity; corrective surgery performed prior to her senior year allowed her, finally, to begin viewing her future optimistically.

That’s the book traveling with me…. and others.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend – I will have a review or two up int he next couple of days here.

Here is a video of my hubby asking Elmo if he wants to go for a ride….. love the head tilt (Elmo’s not Al’s)  😉