Tag: Morning Meanderings

Good morning.  Still no snow here in Central Minnesota.

……………………………………

😛

Love that.

So… is just Minnesota… or is the “white elephant” gift party a big thing everywhere.  Seriously, I have been to three of these so far this year. 

If you are not familiar with the term, a White Elephant party is where you exchange gifts by rolling dice or drawing numbers, but the white elephant gift is to be one of those items you don’t want…  something odd like a plastic football shaped bowl, an old t – shirt, plastic santa, a well used board game, funky socks, etc…

Well last night, I had the ultimate White Elephant gift!  It took some maneuvering to get my hands on. 

1.First… I called the girl who I thought was the holder of said item, Sandi. 

2.  She said she did not have it, her sister Kari did.

3.  I called Kari in which I offered to buy said item from her…. she laughed and said I could have it, as she had two.  Awesome!  😛

4.  After work I drove out to Kari’s new house but could not find it house.

5.  Called Kari and left a message, tried her husband Tim, called Sandi and left message

6.  Drove back to my house.

7.  Sandi returns my call and says I did not go far enough… so back I go out to find the house

8.  Success!  I find the house and then receive the item! 

SO last night I am at the party and when my item is chosen by the unsuspecting Kelly….  I can’t wait!  It is:

So what is “Go Girl?”  It is an item for women to use to go to the bathroom with ease when they are camping… although the packaging also mentions, fishing, and concerts which concerts concerns me a bit… but I am not going to spend time on that one…LOL

There was a coveted item of the night which actually was not only a pretty sweet item for a White Elephant party, it got my mind thinking of what I could do with this… (I don’t have an actual pic of the item but here is the basic idea:)

My friend Kate, made something like this except it just said Kickasserole and it was etched in the bottom of a glass baking dish.  When  I asked her how she did this she said she used Glass Etching Cream.  Well… needless to say I was fascinated!  This cream, using vinyl letters etches the lettering into the glass.  No kidding…. my head is swimming with ideas.  😀

Finally, you may be wondering what I walked away with….

It was this:

And I am keeping them as last week I cut myself on the paper cutter and needed a band aid bad!  So this is just a smart item to have around. 😀

Do you ever do these crazy gift giving parties?  Any funny stories? 

Good morning and happy Friday!  I am super excited about this weekend because I mostly….

have no commitments 😀

Ok, yes we do have a Christmas party to go to tonight… and yes I have yet to put the tree up, and yes I still have some Christmas shopping to do…

BUT – I have no “have to do’s” and I have no time commitments.  Does that make sense?  😛

Recently one of the two bookish Secret Santa programs I signed up for this year arrived at my door.  The books were deliciously wrapped and it all looked so sweet I thought I would wait to open it until Christmas…

and then..

I stopped over to see Cass at Bonjour Cass!  and read her post on the great bookish gifts she received AND then she talked about how her Secret Santa was Amy at Amy Reads… so I went there to see her great gift and well…

I caved.

This morning along with COFFEE CUP, I opened my precious gift and…

 

 

 

 

So there it is… Suey from It’s All About Books is my Secret Book Santa!  And I have two gorgeous books to read and chocolates to enjoy and awesome book marks and chap-stick and some hand lotion.  What a great way to start the morning 😀

This morning I am going to write a couple posts, continue listening to Curious Incident Of The Dog On The Night and finish reading Life As We Knew It.  This afternoon I am going to go workout, catch up on laundry and do a little shopping. 

Whats on your agenda for the day?

Good morning! 

*Yawn*

*Stretch*

Another crazy evening last night but oh so much fun!  Our book club the Bookies gathered at Susan’s house for our annual Christmas Party and December book review.  This time, it was also a baby shower for our newest bookie , Beckett, who was born to Laura in October.

The time together of course was awesome.  We all brought something to share  for our gathering, so the food was plenty!

And Susan’s husband had made up a little holiday tree to get us in the mood:

 

Ok but back to the food…

Punch and wine, homemade candies, sandwiches, fettuccine, salad, shrimp and dip, and more. 

Then we gathered in the living room to eat and discuss out review of The Christmas Wedding (review up later today!).  After the review we had Laura open up baby gifts and then after the baby gifts, we had our annual party where we each have brought a gift around $10 that we roll dice to see who gets what.  I came home with some lovely Tastefully Simple products. 

 

All in all, it was a good time… and our January read was chosen as:

Henry’s Sisters by Cathy Lamb.

 

I have a big day at work today and tonight we have the student Christmas Party which all I know is I am handing tickets out for prizes and apparently helping set up a gingerbread building contest in the gym…. it sounds….

messy 😛

 

Good morning! 

Running a little late here (I could not get to sleep for nothing last night – toss, turn, toss, turn…. )…. BUT I had to share with you my fun findings as I traveled the blogeshpere yesterday during the Monday meme. 

First stop, my dear friend and fellow Bookie, Angie posted about a book on her blog By Book Or By Crook that I am super interested in. 

Stop by Angie’s post to read more about this book.

Then Laurel over at Rainy Days and Mondays wrote a review for a book I have been considering for awhile now…

Read more about this book on Laurel’s blog…. wow.  Seriously. 

And finally, At Quixotic Magpie, this little gem made me long to read it:

I think it was last year I remember a couple other books coming out centered around Little House On The Prairie.  Both I wanted to read, neither did I get to. 

I am off to work, but will be back with a review in just a little while today.  Any good books you have seen while traveling the blogs?

A late good morning to you!  😀

I got up this morning, putzed around a bit on Facebook, read emails, and did not have time before church to write my post.  Now home, I have shopped for dinner, started a roast with vegies in the crock pot, straightened up the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee…

AND NOW…. I get to write a bit and read a bit.  😀

Have you head of and/or used voice texting?  I love it.  Seriously I think it is my favorite part of my new phone.  I can talk into my messaging and wala, there it is in print, I hit send and off it goes!  No more trying to text quick messages at stop lights:

“I am on my way.”

“Do we need milk at home?”

“Stuck in traffic”

As much as I RAVE about voice texting, it is important to take time to proof what you have said before you hit send.  Occasionally, it hears you wrong.  😯

For instance, for mid December in Minnesota, the weather fairy has been exceptionally kind to us.  Yesterday afternoon it hit almost 30 degrees.  My friend Heidi and I decided to take a walk on the bike trail.  I text my husband this information and hit send.  What I meant to say was “going to go and take a walk with Heidi, be home later.”

What I actually sent was, “Going to go and pick a lock with Heidi, be home later.”

LOL

 My hubby Al, said nothing on my apparent confession to breaking the law.  Well, what can I say… times are tough all over.  😛

In bookish news, I am currently in Pennsylvania with Miranda and her family dealing with the aftermath of the meteor hitting the moon.  The sky is now gray from the volcano ash and things do not seem to be getting any better soon (Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer).  I am also hanging out today with Jane Lynch today in the late 70’s while she is cruising in a car with her sister and the “cool girls” (Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch). 

Oh and the walk yesterday…. added 340 calories lost to my pathetic kick off to the 20,000 calorie challenge… 😀

Current total:  1,340 calories burned

Good morning!  I hope this Friday finds you all well. 😀

I was sitting here in my home with Asus (laptop) a warm blanket and a hot cup of coffee. It is currently 4 degrees here, the coldest it has been yet and I thankful that I do not need to go out this morning.

As I have had a little time to visit blogs the past couple of days I love to see the excitement generated in the posts surrounding the best books of 2011, challenges for the new year, and books coveted for 2012.  The later baffled me as I had no response to what I was looking forward to book-wise in 2012.  I know there are books I am waiting on… but my mind seems to have shut down that avenue for construction because I can not recall them.  😯

Then this morning, I recalled a book that I have started hearing buzz around this week.  I guess I thought it was already out there and as I became more and more interested in this book… I realized it does not release until January 17th  2012.

But oh… how I am coveting it…

Have you heard about this book?  It’s the story of Evelyn, who walks into a book store (always a good start!) and is handed a book on Medieval Romance by a boy names Brendan… little do either of them know that this is just the beginning of their story…

*raise hand and wave it crazily*  “Uhhh Sheila, you don’t really like romance novels, right?”

Yes, that is true… BUT there is always an exception to every genre rule, and this would be one of those exceptions… what has me LOVE LOVE LOVING the idea of this book is that you can read it from either side… open one way and you can read the story from Evelyn’s account.  Flip it to the other side,and you can read the story from Brendan’s point of view. 

 

 

Anyway… I think it is going on the wish list 😀 

 

Today I have lunch with friends and tonight hubby and I have an Ugly Sweater party…  ah…. this time of year can be fun, even if it is cold outside.  😛

Good morning.Here in central Minnesota we have only a dusting of snow… seriously, that makes me deliriously happy.

Snow…

not a fan.

Perhaps you may think for a person who is as anti-snow as myself would have chosen a different place to live other than MINNESOTA then…

but here is the kicker…

Spring through Fall here are AWESOME!  The air is crisp and I can smell the signs of things to come…. warm air, rollerblading, biking, sitting on the deck reading…

wow…. I miss it already.

I wish I had an attitude like Lorelei Gilmore when it comes to snow…

 

Anyway…. I always look forward to January 1 because that is when I read my first book of the year.  That has been a tradition for years – long before blogging.  I usually start it New Years Eve but I finish on New Years Day thus being the first book I read of the year.  AND – it is always a treat, a re – read like last year (Lauren Kate rocks! ) and in 2010, well… I was in the mood for Harry… or one that I have simply been dying to read….

this year I have my eye on City Of Fallen Angels…. but I am also thinking maybe Divergent… AND it will also mark my first book of 2012 on the Reading map…..

oh the possibilities…. 😛

Do you plan out the first book of the year?  Any thoughts on what it may be?

 

 

Good morning.  😀

The weekend was so busy and Monday I had work and meetings and Tuesday I had work and dinner with friends.  Really, I feel wiped out this morning and today is another big day. 

 

Anyway… in bookish news, the Goodreads awards have been posted and I was so excited to see that!  This is a great selection of books… and totally gift worthy!

 

Winners of the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards

Best Goodreads Author

 

Out of these I have read Bossy Pants, Little Princes, and Where She Went.  WHAT I still hope to read soon out of this list is:  Divergent (won in two categories!!!), IQ84, 11/22/63, Graveminder, and City Of Fallen Angels. 

How about you, have you read any of these?  Are there any you want to?

 

6 week Calorie challenge update:  1,000 calories burned /out of the 20,000 goal… 19,000 to go.  I need to step it up!  😛