Good Morning.

Things I need to share this morning before I take the dogs (Elmo and Bailey) to get their haircuts while I am at work….

First – exciting news for those who would LOVE to go to BEA but find costs to be a big factor in attending.  Lenore at Presenting Lenore is having a book blogger convention scholarship giveaway – hurry, you must sign up by April 13!  I met Lenore last year when we both were on the Adrianna Trigianni Tea experience and she is so sweet and fun – AND she recently received a book deal which is so ssssqqqquuuuueeeee worthy I can not even put into words 😛

I received a BEA scholarship last year when I entered a contest held by author Sarah Pekkanen (author of Opposite of Me and Skipping A Beat) and therefore I can tell you that you never know who may win!  😀  (BEA recap on a stick)

 

And on to kick boxing…. I took my first ever kickboxing class last night at the Warrior Alliance. My friend Christy has been going and I was interested…. but let me tell you – this is not your Wii boxing….. nope.

I walked into the room which is all workout mats and surrounded by cage like walls and touch looking girls wearing boxing gloves….  Oh wow, I thought – this is so real.

AWESOME!

I had a BLAST and am going to try to attend tonight as well.  It’s not a bad deal -$40 a month and you can go up to 5 times a week.  I really enjoyed it and I know I got a good work out.  Surprisingly, other than a little bit in my shoulders, I do not hurt today and was able to leap (yes leap!) out of bed without feeling like I was hit by a truck.  😛  Always – ALWAYS a good thing.

Ok… time is ticking and I need to move.  Hopefully tonight I will have some time to visit a few blogs and finish Little Princes and start Hate List.  😀

 

Good morning people of Wednesday.  I come to you in peace.  😛

I was reading my friend and fellow Bookie, Angie’s review of ROOM yesterday evening over at By Book Or By Crook.  I always enjoy seeing thoughts on books that I have read and enjoyed.  I left her a comment about the controversial discussion I found by using the spoiler button link in my review.  Then I thought… wow… it has been a long time since I have read a book that required use of the Spoiler Button.

What is the Spoiler Button?

 

It is a link I would use if I read an extremely awesome book that I wanted to discuss deeper with others who have read it as well.  The button would link to a separate page where we could really discuss the book in great detail without fear of spoiling the book for those who had not read it.

I started wondering what books would be ones that I could use the Spoiler Button again and thought I would engage you in this…. I think perhaps when I read Hate List, that might be one…. or the Mortal Instrument Series (City Of Bones…)

What else would you recommend as books that stir up the discussion… books that you would enjoy a safe place to discuss openly about?

 

This morning I am sipping coffee and hurrying off to work.  I want to leave you with this memory of Gilmore Girls that pops in my head every time I go to bed without washing my face first…

 

Mmmmmm Hmmmmm…. let this be a lesson to me.  🙂

Have a super day!!!

Good Morning.  😀

Oh… yeah… about this post title.

Ok… here’s my story.  😛

The Missions banquet was on March 25th and I was bidding on a few silent auction baskets for the fudge cause.  Throughout the night I wound up winning two – one with home made bread (mmmmmmm!) and another which was a basket of new tools and a pound of homemade fudge.  I really thought the basket was cool with the fudge tools.

“But Sheila, March 25th was over a week ago, how did this fudge devouring just come up?”

Great question!

Al and I had driven separate to the banquet as I was part of the set up and tear down.  At the end of the night I sent him and Chance home with both baskets.  When I came home about an hour after them the bread was on the kitchen counter… the fudge tool basket was no where to be found.

When I asked Al about this he told me that I said the tools were for him and so he left it down at our shop behind our house.  *a slight sweat broke out across my brow*  I agreed with him that the tools were for him, but I did want to try the fudge.  He said he would bring it up, and I said, “no, no… it was better this way”… out of sight… out of mind.  I did not need the fudge – I was getting ready for biking season…

and that should have been the end of the story.

Then last night Al comes in the house after work with the fudge tool basket.  I asked why it was in the house…. this basket of fudge tools, and he said that I had mentioned wanting to try the fudge.

“Oh, that’s right, there is fudge in there.”  I replied, not meeting his eyes.

We had dinner and after dinner Al opened up the fudge that was cut into nice large 1/4 pound pieces.  He took the top piece with a glass of milk.  When I looked at him he said, “What?  Is that too much fudge?”

I told him 1/4 pound piece of fudge was pretty large.  He smiled and took the fudge and milk downstairs to watch tv.

I waited of course, until he was comfy downstairs, and out of eye sight.

I made my way to the fudge and tore off a bit of one of the 1/4 pound pieces.

Oh….

HEAVEN.

(Have I mentioned that anything chocolate is pretty much like kryptonite to me?)

I took a bigger corner off the chunk and grabbed a cup of coffee…. mmmmmm even better.

Then I joined Al downstairs.

Then I came up and let the dogs out… little piece of fudge.

Then I came up and changed into my pj’s… little piece of fudge.

When Al went to bed I had another cup of coffee and yup you guessed it… BIGGER piece of fudge.

By the time I stopped…. I had eaten two of the quarter pound pieces.

Uhhh….

“oh.”

😯

This morning when Al got up for work at 5 a.m, the tool basket, some left over pizza and the rest of the fudge was by his keys with a note…

“Please take down to shop with you”

😳

So today…. April 5, enough of that… tonight I am taking a Turbo kick class followed by Zumba.  On Wednesday a friend is taking me to my first kick boxing class where I do believe… I may not be able to type on Thursday.  😛

Have an awesome awesome day – and just say NO to the fudge.

Good morning I mumble with COFFEE CUP too to my lips.  Time management ya know… 😉

Today is the final day of the home show and I am ready to be done… this year really has been a long show.  I love hanging with the people and seeing everyone that attends but the 10 hours of hanging out in the concessions has caused my feet to hurt and the rest of me to silently scream “Are We Done Yet?”

Today it closes at 4 so that isn’t so bad and normally this weekend show doesn’t get this reaction out of me…. I just think I am overbooked lately and with down time lacking… I crave a day to unplug (Monday is going to be that day for me… I took the day off of work, canceled all meetings…. U N P L U G).

On a happier less whiny note, I actually was reading yesterday – a little at the show and then a couple of hours worth when I got home.  While it was not the book I planned to read – it is the book I was meant to read.  Little Princes by Conor Grennan is so far – a delight.  I love the authors experiences in Nepal, am amazed at the children that are trafficked in this country.  What an awful word.  Yes Conner’s story is one that gives my heart hope, reminds me quite a bit of my time in Honduras, and is one of those books where you look at what one person has done to make a difference and makes me personally want to do more.  Conner is a witty author whose humor I appreciate and there are so many times so far that I have agreed with what he was saying as I could picture it happening.

Ok… this wasnt suppose to be a mini review…. LOL…

I am off – have a super Sunday!  😀

Good morning.

That was an awful post title…. mainly because I don’t know how I feel.

Oh… in that case I guess it is a perfect post title.  😛

I am tired from the Home Show yesterday but not physically tired.  I had plenty of sleep.  If I did not have the Home Show again today I would not still be in bed… I think maybe the word I am looking for is weary.

Good morning.

It feels so good to just be sitting here…. with COFFEE CUP…. and chatting with you.  😀

Behind the scenes…

I have a car filled with items for the home show concessions.  This is my yearly weekend contribution to our local Home Show.  The home show is a large show in the local Civic Center where businesses that deal with any kind of building projects from here to Minneapolis come and set up booths for people to visit over the next three days…. last night I was there prepping the booth, stocking it with supplies…. making sure I had everything for todays “go time”

Anything from home builders, windows, decks, lawn care, landscaping, roofing, real estate, painters, remodeling, pest control, garage doors, house doors, floors, carpet, plumbers, electricians, siding, cabinets, etc…

and my part… I run the concessions…. organize what we sell, the prices, the prep, and I do this all weekend long and have one weekend a year for the past 4 years.  The concession part of the show raises money for scholarships.

SO…. as I sit here this morning, casually sipping my COFFEE, still in my pj’s, pretending my weekend is nothing but book reading and light house work… the truth is…

in about an hour I will be in go mode…. dressed and out the door to finish this mornings set up, be sure everything is working right and start the coffee, the hot dogs, the brats….. and wait for the doors to open for the weekend.  I will then spend the next 10 hours running and keeping things filled, doing what I can to help where needed.

Relaxing with coffee in pj’s….. running stairs and making brats and hot dogs.

These two scenarios…. are so different.  😛

So in bookish thoughts… I am taking with my today Laptop (you never know – I may catch a break during the day) and Joyce Carol Oates – Black Girl White Girl which I am almost through.  My reading has suffered the past two weeks but after this weekend looks like things will slow to a slightly raised pulse rate and I can hopefully pick up more of this delicious books that surround me…

Now I am feeling optimistic… I am taking a second book with me today…. Rooftops of Tehran.

 

Good morning.  😀

I want to share something really really crazy I did the last few days and hopefully you can follow along with the craziness of this story…. it is kind of like a mystery so watch for the clues that I missed.  😉

Last Friday I rented How Do You Know from Red Box.  Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd…. what’s not to love?

Well Friday was the Missions Banquet which I had been working on setting up for several days and after the banquet a very (VERY) tired version of me came home around 10 pm.  Now, no matter how tired I am I can never come home and go right to bed… I actually need to wind down by either reading a bit or staring at the TV set.  This night, was the latter… I grabbed my Redbox movie, went to the DVD player, opened it… closed it… sat down in the recliner.

The DVD player was empty.

I went and looked in the Redbox case and sure enough… I was so tired I never put the movie in… but there was something else.  There were two DVD’s in the Redbox case.  Holy cats… someone had returned their Redbox movies and put two in the same case.  The second movie was The Ugly Truth.

I watched my movie… well sort of… I fell asleep in the middle and watched it again the next day, and then I watched The Ugly Truth too.  When I went to return the Redbox movie I called the 800 number and told them I had found two movies in the same case and what should I do.  They told me if I wanted to help out the person who did this and get that movie checked in for them – I could purchase an empty case through the Redbox and then put the movie in it and return it.  They gave me a credit code so I could purchase the empty case to do this.

I went into the store and returned the movie I had rented, then purchased a case and tried to return the second one.  It wouldn’t go in the machine.  Every time I did it a message came on the screen that the barcode had to be facing out… it was.  I tried about 6 times and then frustrated, felt this is what must have happened to the other renter and why they put two in the case.  There was no one around to help me so I took the movie with me, planning to call Redbox again and let them know I could not return the movie.  By now I am a bit frustrated that I tried to do something good to help out the other renter and still could not return the movie.

Then – this morning as I readied myself for work I went downstairs to grab a movie that Chance and I had rented from the video store and a Netflix DVD paper that was sitting by the DVD player, good I thought, I will get this in the mail too…. I looked at the title on the paper case, it said….

The Ugly Truth.

No way….

So in case you did not catch that…. the whole time (THE WHOLE TIME) the “extra” DVD I thought was in the Redbox case was one I had rented from Netflix.  I believe what happened is Friday when I was so tired instead of putting my Redbox movie in the DVD player, I pulled The Ugly Truth out of the player and put it in the Redbox case on top of the one I rented.  Then when I opened the case… I apparently surprised myself with the two DVD’s and did not recognize the one being my Netflix rental at all.

How hilarious that I tried to return it to Redbox and was unable too…. thank goodness I could not find anyone to help me as if I could have turned it in to someone to handle for me I would have – and then I would have had to find it again to get it to Netflix…. can you even imagine the mess I would have had?  😛

Good morning.  Wednesday already?  Does it seen like the days fly by or is that just me?  Tonight a meeting, Thursday I am helping Chance get ready for the weekend, and Friday is the home show which I run concessions for each year for this weekend to raise scholarship money for kids.

Uggghhhh…

I have to set up tomorrow night and honestly, I need a zap of energy to pull this one off well.

Anyway…

*sips coffee*

Patterson.

 

I received an email from Amazon this morning about Patterson and it actually surprised me how much of his books I have read throughout the years.  For those of you who think he is incredibly gory and graphic…. he can be…. but he is more than that.  He is also a great mystery writer – the Michael Bennett series (Step On A Crack, Run For Your Life, Worst Case and Tick Tock) are about an Irish detective who has 10 adopted kids with his wife who recently passed away.  This series is good and clean.

If you have not seen Patterson’s Nicholas Sparks side…. you may be amazed to know he has one…. his book Diary for Nicholas was read by me one summer in one sitting.  I meant to pick it up and see what it was about…. I read it straight through and was pulled in by a book that I felt was very “not Patterson style”.

I never got into the Alex Cross books…. but have enjoyed the movies.

His book Honeymoon we read as a book club a few years ago and for my standard review question of “what did we learn by reading this book?”  We joyfully laughed and agreed that we had learned to kill someone with scrambled eggs.  😛

I guess what I am saying here is that Patterson is not just heavy hitting mysteries… yes, I too laugh at the jokes about his short chapters and know that he cranks books out like a popcorn machine.  I read recently that he has a long conference table in his office with several manuscripts half written on it.  While some frown about this – I can not complain, even when he is writing with other authors what he is producing is pretty good.

Recently I listened to the first of the Womens Murder Club books….and liked it.  Currently I am reading Sundays at Tiffany’s for book club and have to be reminded that this is indeed a Patterson book.

I didnt wake up thinking I was going to talk about James Patterson this morning… but, the beauty of the Morning Meandering is you never know what you are going to get…. sometimes, it surprises me too.  😀

What do you think of James Pattersons books?  Like them?  Hate them?  Have you tried any of his non mysteries?

Sundays at Tiffany’s	Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas	Honeymoon	Run for Your Life
Worst Case	Swimsuit	The Beach House	I, Alex Cross

 

Good morning!

me·an·der  (m–ndr)

intr.v. me·an·dered, me·an·der·ing, me·an·ders  

1. To follow a winding and turning course: Streams tend to meander through level land.

2. To move aimlessly and idly without fixed direction: vagabonds meandering through life. See Synonyms at wander.

n.

1. meanders Circuitous windings or sinuosities, as of a stream or path.

2. A circuitous journey or excursion; ramble. Often used in the plural.

I knew I had appropriately named my morning chats….. as I sit here this morning trying to think what is interesting enough share…. I feel truly this will be a meander…

On Friday night we had our annual Missions Banquet at Breezy Point resort.  It is a lot of work to prepare, sell tickets, solicit silent auction items, set up, etc…. but I am part of an awesome team that works hard and pulls it all together.  We raised $6,400 for Missions from this years banquet.  Numbers like that make the whole process worth while, even if it does wipe me out.  😀

Saturday I thought I would be a meager shell of my former self in recovery mode from the banquet – but this year, not true.  I think we were so organized going in that it only took a couple of hours to set up, and by Saturday morning I felt 100% and had a day of:

Cleaning

purchased new ear buds for my IPOD Nano (Podette)

Dancing and cleaning with the new ear buds and Podette

cleaned out my closet 😯 and put clothes aside that need to make a trip to Good Will

danced some more

Went to Starbucks and enjoyed a Skinny Vanilla Latte while catching up on some blog visits… a little bit of bliss 🙂

Had dinner with hubby and we watched the movie Blood Diamond (which if you have not seen, I recommend – usually not my kind of movie but the story about the diamonds being harvested out of Africa and the people who die in the process is heart wrenching and pretty sure I will never look at a diamond the same way again.  (I was not a big jewelry person to begin with….)

Which brings to this morning…. coffee blogging…. hair is a mess…. oh yeah, I had better go get ready 😀

Enjoy your day – wherever you meander!