Morning Meanderings – Page 77

Morning Meanderings… Feast or Famine

Published on March 16, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning! 😀
The last few days when I get up and come into the kitchen to make coffee and read emails, I reach for the cd player to push play as per habit and…

crickets.

My kitchen cd player is one of the three audio spots I have and as of this past week I have had no audio to put in it.

THAT is so weird. 😯

It just happened that all good audio I have listened to and returned to the library. All the poor ones have also been returned. I have several I am waiting for but none were in yet. A quiet kitchen is odd… a couple of times I pulled the IPOD home out of my bedroom so I could listen to that audio while in the kitchen/living area but that was a pain and then that one was never where I needed it to be.

Yesterday I stopped at the library thinking I had a book that I had requested in. I did not. Instead I had 4 audio books…. delicious audio books…. all waiting for me in a row with my name on them.

The famine is over.

Dont they look good? A nice mix to listen to over the next couple of weeks! 😀

Today, well, this morning, I am off to the gym. Then I am coming home and preparing to go to Fargo (yes, like in the movie but not scary like that…. trust me!) for the weekend with a few girlfriends. Laptop is coming with so I plan on popping in when I can and updating. Minnesota is breaking all sorts of weather records here and word is we may reach 80 degrees this weekend. It is March. In Minnesota. That is INSANE. In a good way 😀

Morning Meanderings… Not Always The Sharpest Tool In The Shed

Published on March 15, 2012March 15, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning! Yesterday it was almost 70 degrees in Central Minnesota! I stared out the window as often as I could while at work yesterday. I was like a kid who could not wait to get outside! Right after work I ran home, grabbed my roller blades from the garage and my dog from the house.

Yup. You read that right. Ever since we lost Elmo in October Bailey (our shih-tsu) has not been the same. He mopes around, he has put on weight. AL and I are both very busy and don’t spend a lot of time with him except in the evenings, and that is usually not active time but “come and lay down by me while I read or watch TV” time.

SO…. I felt guilty just running to grab my blades and leaving… and in my head, I pictured a happy Bailey trotting ahead of my while I bladed.

What was I thinking?

So I get to the trail. I strap on my modern-day fanny pack thing… yes, I am THAT cool…. with my water bottle, a place to hold keys and cell phone and gum. Necessities. Bailey waits patiently in the jeep while I put on my blades and then put a retractable walking leash on him and off we go!

What I did not think about:

Bailey is 13.

He has very short legs.

He is overweight.

We have never done this before.

Bailey was not ahead of me as I bladed he was behind. He trotted but I had to go very slow. I got my heart rate all the way up to an exhilarating 113. I know… I know… “Slow down before you pass out!” 😛

The original goal was to go up to the 2 mile marker to check to see if the trail was clear for biking. I instead went to the one mile marker, and for over half of it I bladed while carrying Bailey. Heart rate while carrying Bailey: 144.

There were other people on the trail and many had dogs. The dogs loved Bailey. Tails wagging they approached him big and small. Bailey froze like he was stuffed. One pup was 9 weeks old. Bailey was a statue.

*sigh*

Oh well… the good news is the trail is clear and that means my bike is going to get the tires checked and then I am hitting the trail first chance I get…. yes, without Bailey. I think maybe, he is more of an indoor dog. 😀

I was talking with my friend Wendy last night and as I told her the blading story I said “I don’t even know if I can blog about this. It doesn’t seen real that so much crazy stuff can happen to one person. But then again… I suppose if you tend to bring on crazy…. things are going to happen. 😀

Enjoy your day – today promises to be lovely as well. I wish I had time to hit the trail again, and maybe I will after work. I have some things to do tonight and early tomorrow to get ready for a weekend out-of-town with friends.

Morning Meanderings… And This Is Why I Stayed Up Until 1 in the morning…

Published on March 13, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Good morning. 🙂

Ok.. this is what happened. Life… as you know… has been busy. On Sunday I cleaned house and ran errands and pretty much kept on my feet all day. Monday I went to work at 8 am and came home at 4, dusted and vacuumed, made banana bread and had about twenty people over at 6 pm for a group discussion until 8:30 pm. Picked up the dishes, cleaned up a bit and sat down to finish my book club book for tonights review…

and then proceeded to check emails on my personal and book accounts. Responded to a few. Went on Facebook and wrote a few things and played a game (or two) of Battle Tetris. Answered comments on the posts… ate a piece of fish. And then… at 10:20 pm I started reading…. (um…. I had a good 200 pages to go….) 😯

So am I there yet? Not quite but I will make it…. what am I reading?

Have a good day everyone I am off to work and then book club tonight. I have a review coming up this afternoon that you will not want to miss 😀

Morning Meanderings…. Sunday Salon

Published on March 11, 2012March 11, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning. 🙂

What an over all pleasant week we have had here in central Minnesota. The temperature dipped early in the week but now has risen to the point that today I even had a window open. Bye Bye snow 😀

I only had a couple of evening commitments this past week which is way more doable for me than the every night thing so I feel a little more balanced which I am thrilled about. 😀

Friday evening we went out with my cousins and their hubbies which was fun. Saturday I decided to “unplug” from life and spent the day reading and a writing a couple of reviews. You know that feeling when you can sit and actually read an entire book, guilt free? I had one of those days and watch for my review of Pandemonium up later today. Now I am reading and finishing our book club read yet today.

Throughout the week a nice assortment of books have graced my doorstep:

The first 7 are books that came in for review and the last book, The Book Of Romance I purchased as in church we are studying The Song Of Solomon and using this book as well.

I am now working on a master calendar as to when I would like to review books… and trying to be more organized as to when they come in and when they are for sale to the public.

Today will be another pretty sweet day I think… I have floor hockey tonight, and house cleaning to do this afternoon as we are having people over tomorrow night. Tuesday is book club and I have prep to do for that yet too 🙂

Also in honor of “Springing Forward” with daylight savings time today I am hoping to commit to springing forward myself as well with a little plan… (more about that at Team Kickin It)

How is your Sunday going?

Morning Meanderings… I Am On A Break

Published on March 10, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)43 Comments

Good morning!

The sun is shining here in central Minnesota which makes me happy in so many ways! We are supposed to have a week of 50-60 degree weather so by next weekend I am thinking we will be pretty much snow free.

Last night my cousins and their hubbies and my hubby and I all got together for an evening out. There are five of us girl cousins that try to get together once in a while and that I think is kind of awesome. Last night we brought the guys too and ended up grabbing some dinner and good conversation.

I did not take pictures, I should have I know… but today since my boys are on my mind (and apparently my theme is family today) I thought I would post pics of them for Alyce’s Saturday Snapshot…

A little back ground history of these two… Justin is the younger, at 21 and goes to College in Mankato. Brad is the older and is in the Navy. Growing up they were complete opposites but now they have this cool friendship.

I love this picture. This was the day we were taking Brad (right) to the airport to go to boot camp. I was trying to get a good picture of the two of them but of course right before I snap the picture Justin (left) says something funny.

**Christmas 2010, Brad (left) was able to come home on a short leave for Christmas.**

**Mid January 2012, Brad had two weeks back at home and Justin came home a for a weekend so we could all hang out together and do Brad' birthday (which is in December) and Christmas.**

Brad currently is stationed in Florida and Justin, at this time is in Honduras on his 5th Mission Trip. So proud of them both.

As for myself today, I think I am pulling the plug on all activity. I woke up early and made some tea and have been engrossed in pandemonium by Laure Oliver ever since. I plan to read and catch up on a couple of reviews I need to write and a couple of bonus posts I have been working on.

I look forward to a day of much reading and just letting the “to do’s” hang tight while I take a day of real relaxation. 😀

Morning Meanderings… Kindle, Nook, and what is Google Play?

Published on March 8, 2012March 8, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning?

Does anyone else ever have visions of running away and living off the land, and books?

Nope?

Just me… ok.

As I look at all the books I want to read and all the books coming out daily, weekly…. HOURLY that I want to read and then all the things that I do on a daily, weekly , HOURLY basis… such as eat and sleep and work and work out and clean and…

well yeah… where is that pocket of book time?

But look… I have only just started typing, sitting here with COFFEE CUP on an irritatingly snowy morning in Minnesota, should be, could be, should be getting ready for work… but one eye on the time and the other on my keyboard….

and I have already digressed.

WHAT I had wanted to talk about this morning was my NOOK, which I love, and the KINDLE which I think is a better product now then back in the day when you had to choose NOOK or KINDLE and I felt the obvious choice was NOOK but now I am now so sure and yeah I am rambling, one because of the time, and two because of the caffeine…

AND NOW…

of course there are all these other e readers and then this morning I am reading my beloved Shelf Awareness and they are talking about Google Play and if you were hoping when I asked the question this morning that I was going to explain it, that is not the case…

I was really hoping you could explain it to me. 😯

I was looking a little at the website today and I didn’t have a lot of time to dig but I wasn’t sure if it is for your phone, or if you could download it on any e reader or… well… what and where?

ANYHOO…. that’s all. I just wanted to know. 😀

Have a super day and yeah this probably did not make sense today but really, most days I don’t have a clue what I am going to write about until I sit down and

write. 😀

Have an awesome day!!!!!

Morning Meanderings… Audible Sale! The River???

Published on March 7, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning and happy Wednesday! I can not even believe it is Wednesday already! On Sunday is Group Power Class they had us hold our barbell in front of us with weights on it and do calf raises. At the time, no real big deal. I mean yeah, you could feel the stretch…

Then on Monday, ooh I could still feel that a bit, hurt a little when I walked… and then yesterday, if I sat at my desk for any amount of time I could hardly walk at all! Seriously…. my left leg I walked on tip toe because putting my foot flat pulled that muscle too much… and HURT…. that means…

I should do that more often. 😯

Anyhoo, last night in my semi crippled state, propped into the recliner with blanky and lap top two things happened… one good…. one not so much.

First – I discovered that Audible.com was having a members sale. $4.95 audio books! Of it is like browsing through a virtual book store… I walked away with:

The first three were on the sale, and the last one I used a credit for as I have had my eye on this one since I first seen it. OOH Audio fix!!!

Have any of you watched that new show The River? Someone recently told me that I would like it as I really enjoyed LOST. Well, I just happened to catch it on tv last night and thought I would give it a shot. It’s ummm… a bit odd, and I am pretty sure that right before I shut it off, they were going to eat the dog. I don’t know… I couldn’t watch that. Here is a clip of what the show is about:

It looks good.. but I don’t know if it is for me. 😀

Ok I am off to conquer another work day and a work out and yeah, my volunteer time with the students tonight. By the time I get home it will be time to Survivor and Modern Family – both give me great joy. 😀

Morning Meanderings… COUGH COUGH What???

Published on March 6, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Good morning.

The last few days I have listened to my husband cough… err… hack, and thought well at least I dont get colds as easy as he does. THEN this morning as I am typing away, having my coffee I catch myself clearing my throat, and yeah… a little *cough*.

GAH.

I started to listening to Great House this morning and as it plays on my kitchen cd player and the narrator is going on about a missing Daniel and a desk she kept his letters in I suddenly realized I had no real idea what this story was about. I had seen it around the last year or so… I liked the cover, I picked it up at the library…. but now I am in a story of what? Poetry, a desk, a missing man…. so I had to go on line and try to read something about the book and find out that the desk becomes almost a character… a center piece around which the story is set. Ok… now I am engaged…

Our narrator has written seven novels at that desk and when a mysterious daughter calls to claim it after two decades…. hmmmm… interesting.

Ok.. .I have to get ready for work, stop back in later I have a snarky review coming up which while the book was BAD BAD BAD… I had a lot of fun with the review.

Morning Meanderings… Sunday Salon

Published on March 4, 2012March 4, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Good morning! Happy Sunday!

My recap of this week is so much more laid back then last week! I absolutely had nothing in my evenings all week. I know right? That never happens! I usually am looking at my week thinking – ok I have that Monday evening, that on Tuesday evening, that on Wed…

but nope, this past week my Monday group was cancelled, Wednesday activities I usually volunteer for were cancelled due to the snow storm that hit Brainerd (sort of), Thursday I was supposed to have a belated dinner with friends and one of them had to go to the cities so we decided to postpone… and that was all I had planned for the week!

On Friday night hubby and I had chicken fajita and watched the movie Moneyball. I will review it this week but in the meantime know that it is good and worth seeing! 😛 On Saturday evening we went out to dinner with friends Robb and Julie to a restaurant we had never been to before. It was about a 30 minute drive but the food was good, the conversation was awesome. Robb and Julie had just completed the Polar Plunge earlier on Saturday.

Beyond that – I received some pretty exciting books in the mail this week:

AND – Bloggiesta is back!!! Woo Hoo! I am so excited and you can sign up to be a part of it now… and trust me, you want to be a part of it! 😀

That’s a wrap! Today I have church, then working out… some reading this afternoon and tonight Floor Hockey and then Amazing Race. Ahhh…. a good Sunday 😀

Morning Meanderings… A Retreat

Published on March 3, 2012 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

A quiet Saturday! Just what I wanted and needed! A day to catch up on some reading, a little bit of working out and a couple of reviews.

Isn’t it weird what a difference a week can make? Last week at this time I was exhausted and at a Women’s Retreat… which really sounds like an oxymoron right? I mean the words “women’s retreat” brings up visions of relaxation and down time and girl chats….

and it was all that – but I went into it wrong. I had a hugely busy week last week and by the time I arrived at the women’s retreat on Friday evening, stick a fork in me… I was done. 😯

Don’t get me wrong – it was a lovely time.. I was just tired. I had a chance to chat with some friends and make a few new ones.

Part of the camp we stayed at — **Part Of the camp we stayed at - Trout Lake Camp**

026 — **An area that was in the main lodge.... my favorite hang out space!**

033 — **Me... ready for the winter activities!**

**Loading on to the bus to be driven to the dining hall**

**The massive fireplace in the dining hall**

All in all the retreat was fun! We ended the second night with a purse action. Throughout the retreat you could earn “dollars” to bid on purses. I did not win a purse but t was a lot of fun to watch people go a little crazy over the purses!

These pics are my contribution to the fabulous Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots. Pop over and see what others have taken pictures of. 😀

Have a fab morning – I am going to make an egg white omelet while listening to the end of an audio book. Later I am back with my February recap and possibly later yet (to get myself on track) a review.