Exceedingly Mundane

I haven’t been able to come up with 13 of anything lately, so I haven’t been playing along with the Thursday Thirteen meme. Instead, I’ve really been enjoying this book-related meme. Click here to go play along 🙂

Booking Through Thursday – TLC

What kind of care do you take of your books? Let’s review, shall we?

1. Are you careful with the spines? Or do you crack your books open to make them lay flat? I’m very careful with my books, whether they are mine, borrowed from a friend or family member, or from the library. It’s just something I was raised with, you take care of things and they will last. I’m as careful as I can be with the spines, but sometimes, on small paperbacks, they will crack a little and be a little worn out from being opened. I don’t crack them open intentionally to flatten them out. Never.
2. Do you use bookmarks? Or do you dog-ear the corners? If you do use bookmarks, do you use those fashionable metal ones? Or paper? I am a bookmark user! I never dog-ear the pages, and only rarely will I use a scrap of paper to mark my place. I have several bookmarks, and a new book “thong” from a dear friend, and I love to use those to mark my place.
3. Do you write in your books? Ever? If you do, do you make small marks, or write in as much blank space as you can find? Pen or pencil? Highlighter? Your name on the front page? OK, sounding like a broken record here already, but no, I don’t write in my books, or highlight them, or write in the margins. I didn’t even do this with books or workbooks in school, any more than I had to. I don’t like to mar or degrade my books in any way. The only exception to that is that sometimes I do write my name in the front, or a small inscription if the book is a gift to Tim (I’ll write the date, like Valentines or our anniversary and the year). I’ve had to start putting my name in some of them, because I’ve had some misunderstandings about loaning my books and not getting them back 🙁
4. Do you toss your books on the floor? Into bookbags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect? Well, I tend to treat them pretty well. I must admit that I will stack them up on the floor, on the nightstand, in the bookcase, or shove them into a bag or my purse to take with me.
5. Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place? Rarely, I mostly always use bookmarks.
6. Um–water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort? Rarely, if ever. I haven’t done that in a long time. And now a days, I think if I were to read in the tub, I would probably take a magazine and not a book.
7. Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor? They’re mostly in bookcases, because I’ve been working on that since Christmas. But I do have some piled up in a pile on the floor of my bedroom. I’m a piler. Piles everywhere. 😀
8. Do you make a distinction–as regards book care–between hardcovers and paperbacks? Not really, I treat all my books really well.
9. And, to recap? Naturally, you love all of your books, but how, exactly? Are your books loved in the battered way of a well-loved teddy bear, or like a cherished photo album or item of clothing that’s used, appreciated, but carefully cared for? Cherished and cared for, especially the hardbacks.
10. Any additional comments? Nope, I feel like a broken record, plus I did this book meme below yesterday, so this is pretty redundant!!!

I saw this over at Debi‘s place a couple of weeks ago, and filed it away “for a rainy day”. Thanks for letting me swipe it, Debi!! I love any and all things bookish!

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?I read all three, but I probably prefer hardbacks. I do like the larger size of paperback that I’ve been finding more of lately. Bigger than the traditional 4×6 or whatever it is, but a bit smaller than a hardback.

Amazon or brick and mortar? Both! I love Amazon, and browse there often. I have tons of wish lists, including a “books seen on blogs” wish list! But I also love going into a bookstore and browsing, maybe having a cup of coffee, and looking through all the books. Bookstores and libraries are like drugs for me 🙂

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Can I possibly say both? I have a Borders card and prefer to shop there because a) their card is free and b) they send me coupons! I don’t like having to pay for a card at B&N. BUT – the Borders here is a lot further from my house, and the B&N is closer, and going to be much closer in the next year. They’re relocating the current B&N to a mere mile or so from my house later this year.

Bookmark or dogear? Bookmark, I never dogear any book I read. Never.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? This is hard to believe, since our DVD’s are sorted alphabetically, but I don’t sort my books. I do group them by author, and sometimes genre, but I don’t alphabetize them. GASP!

Keep, throw away, or sell? Mostly keep. I do occasionally sell some books in a garage sale, donate them to Goodwill or the library, but mostly I keep them.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? I always keep the dustjacket on our books.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? I read them with the dustjacket on.

Short story or novel? I don’t read much in the way of short stories, so novel.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? See above, I don’t really read short stories

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Believe it or not, I haven’t read either yet. But I have given our niece and nephew a bunch of the Lemony Snicket books and one day, I might borrow them back from them and read some of them 🙂

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? Mostly when I’m tired, but I do try to get to a stopping point. If I’m reading before bed and about to nod off, I will just stop where-ever.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Hmmm, not sure, maybe a mixture of both

Buy or Borrow? Both. I buy them new at bookstores, buy them used at library sales, borrow them from friends, and especially, borrow from my local library.

New or used? A year ago, I would have answered New. But now that I’ve discovered the library sales at my local library, I would have to say both!

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? Great question. Another mixture of both. I must admit, I am a sucker for a good book cover. An intriguing cover will draw me in every time. Mostly, I buy books from authors I already read or who have come on a good recommendation. I tend to prefer to try new authors by utilizing my local library. I do love to browse, I love browsing at bookstores, even discount stores like Target, Walmart and Sam’s, and I love to go to the library.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Easy one, tidy ending. And it better be happy!

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? All of those listed. I love to read and read every chance I get. I mostly read at night before bed, but if I can, I will read at any time during the day.

Standalone or series? I read both, but I love series books.

Favorite series? Ooh, tough one. There’s so many I love and so many I’ve started and not completed. Favorite so far would have to either be the Mitford series by Jan Karon or the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?Hmmm, not sure. I mostly read mainstream type books.

Favorite books read last year? Gosh, that’s too hard to narrow down. I read 70 books and I just looked through the list, and I could easily name 15 or more books as “favorites”. Some of those would be The DaVinci Code, The Red Tent, the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury, the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and the list would go on and on!

Favorite books of all time? Gosh, these are hard! September and Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher, The Testament by John Grisham, all of the Mitford books by Jan Karon, and on and on and on

This is a dual purpose blog post. It’s something I’ve been wanting to blog about since it turned colder, and it’s also my photo of the day for my Project365:

Yup, it’s socks! Snuggle-up, cozy-up, lounge around kind of socks. I love these things! I wear them all the time in the winter. My hands and feet seem to stay cold this time of year, and I usually wear two pair of socks when I’m around the house for any length of time. I wear a pair of white athletic socks, then one of my snuggle socks. It helps keep my feet warm!

You see, I have self-diagnosed myself with something my grandmother had, and I think my mother had also. It’s called Raynaud’s and in its milder forms, it really just means poor circulation to the extremities, resulting in cold hands and cold feet. As it worsens, your extremities become increasingly colder and start turning white, blue and red. Now, no doctor has ever told me I have this, but I think I do. My hands and feet are cold year round, but its much worse in winter. I have often been known to wear gloves inside in the winter, and usually 2 pair of socks and even shoes or slippers. Once my feet or hands get cold, I get cold all over and it takes quite a bit to warm me up.

Aside from that medical oddity, I just love these big comfy socks. So, that’s today’s Question of the Day: Do you have any of these cuddle socks that you wear? Or do you have a big pair of comfy slippers or something else to keep your feet warm when it’s cold outside? Or are you so hot-natured that you don’t need these kinds of things? Inquiring minds want to know 🙂

I finally finished “The Janson Directive” by Robert Ludlum last night. This is a book we own, that Tim had read and really loved. And, I can see why. It’s definitely a “guy” kind of book, especially after all of the totally gooey women’s stuff I’ve been reading lately! It’s a lot longer than I would have liked and I really struggled to get through it. It had a good plot, with lots of intrigue and twists and turns. You can tell that Ludlum obviously knows this genre and puts a considerable amount of research into his books. The scenes are well thought out and painstakingly described. And therein lies the problem for me – I really don’t want to read a 5 page dissertation on rappelling equipment, on parachute jumping and wind shears, on a torture scene that he is reliving through a flashback, etc. Some sections were just so long-winded, on subjects that I don’t care that much about, so I really struggled with those parts. The overall plot, the characters, the descriptions of the locations were good, but the weaponry, covert ops, surveillance, guerrilla tactics, warfare and torture were not really things I enjoy reading all that much.

That said, I’m glad I read it and I would consider reading another Ludlum book. Tim still insists that his Bourne books are some of the best he’s ever read. But, for now, I’m going to stick to my women’s fiction and Christian fiction. It’s easier for me to read that genre, and more enjoyable. 🙂

Oh, and reading this book reminded me of one thing I don’t like to be reminded of – my vocabulary is not as good as it should be. I literally ran across dozens of words that I do not know. I was stopping and looking them up as I went along, and then realized that it might take me months to finish this book at that rate.:roll: So then, I just started writing them down, and after I filled up an entire sheet of paper, I stopped for a while. Then I picked it back up, and I literally have 50, 60 or maybe 70 words written down to look up. Boy, do I have a lot of looking up to do!

For the record, that makes 7 books so far this year, with a total of 2,284 pages read. Up next is a paperback I bought this past weekend at the library sale – “Blue Smoke” by Nora Roberts. I bought this book for one reason – to try to hurry up and read it before the movie comes out next week on Lifetime TV! They’re still running those 4 Nora Roberts movies on consecutive Mondays. I had a hardback of Carolina Moon (the last of the 4 movies) in my hands, but put it back in favor of other books. I enjoy the movies without reading the books, even though I do like the books too. I’m still trying to figure out if I like Nora Roberts… maybe the verdict will be in after I finish this one!

I’m really late today with my menu, but there’s a reason. I have a refrigerator overflowing with food left from our Super Bowl party yesterday! I probably don’t need to cook that much this week, but hey, let’s face it – this is all junk food, and as much as I’d like to live off of chips and dip, sausage balls and Lit’l Smokies for a week, I don’t think that’s very prudent. 😀

So, here’s a basic plan for the week:

Monday – Super Bowl party leftovers (Taco Soup over Fritos, hot dogs)

Tuesday – Chicken Stir Fry, Egg Rolls (trying to use up the carrots, broccoli and sugar snap peas in the veggie tray from the party)

Wednesday – Light Night before Tim weighs in at work…. either Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese or a big Grilled Chicken Salad

Thursday – Crockpot BBQ Chicken, Smashed potatoes, Sauteed Green Beans

Friday – Date Night or Spaghetti (didn’t have this last week)

Saturday/Sunday – TBD

As always, be sure to cruise on over to Laura’s blog and check out the other participants’ menus. Last week, there were over 80 that were posted!!!

I got so busy over the weekend, getting ready for our Super Bowl party, that I let a very important date slip by me. I actually had it on my calendar, and a reminder popped up to remind me, and yet I still never had a chance to sit down and blog about it. So, even though I’m a couple of days late, I wanted to celebrate my blog’s two year anniversary! Or is it birthday? What does a blog have, LOL!

I started this blog mostly on a whim. I started out with the intent of learning something new, doing something to entertain my two sisters, and as a way to try to keep up with our family members who live far away from us, and might be remotely interested in what was going on in our house. I have learned a lot of new things since I started, I think I keep my sisters mildly entertained (and I’m happy to say, both of them have started blogging since I started), but as far as the family keep-in-touch project goes, I struck out miserably on that. All of my grown nieces and nephews that live out of state could care less about my blog. They don’t check it and they don’t try to keep up with us, which is fine, but on that point, I definitely struck out. What I didn’t envision, though, was something far greater. I’ve made new friends online, fellow bloggers, wonderful ladies who are sweet, funny, encouraging, supportive, generous and just downright lovely human beings. I never thought that would happen, and for that extra benefit, I am profoundly grateful. I have found so many blogs that I love to read. So many new friends. So many people whose lives I love to read about, whose opinions and values I share, whose recipes I have tried and loved, whose books they read I have read and loved, who watch the same TV shows, who listen to the same music, and the list goes on and on. It’s a funny thing, this Internet and blogging, but it can be a wonderful thing when you find people that you can make a connection with. Funny, and wonderful, and totally heart-warming. I never could have pictured that happening, and I am so happy it has. And I hope it goes on for a long, long time!

Along the same lines, be sure to go over and vote in the “Share the Love” blog awards. So many of my favorite blogs are nominated in the different categories. I’ve already gone and voted, so be sure to head over and vote soon, I think the ballots close tomorrow sometime.

It’s late, the party is over, the game is over, and I’m a tired but happy camper since the Colts won. 😀 If our beloved Saints couldn’t go (thanks to dem Bears), then I wanted Peyton and the Colts to go, and to win.

Our party got cranked up about 12:30 when my dad arrived. Everyone else dribbled in for the next few hours, but several people were not able to make it, due to sickness. We hated that we didn’t get to see them, but were really happy that everyone else was able to stop by. We had a lot of food, and we have a lot left, so I won’t need to worry about much of a menu for the next day or two, LOL! Poor Beau was relegated outside most of the day and hated to miss out on all of the fun. I think he was glad when it got dark and his momma (me) insisted that he be able to come back inside.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

This morning, I got up early and went to the book sale at my local library. I wish I had gotten there just a tad earlier…as I saw 2 or 3 books I would have wanted in other people’s arms! hehehe 🙂 As it was, I got more than I could carry. One of the older lady volunteers came up to me and said “Honey, let me go get you a bag!” I had more books picked out that I was thinking of getting, but I sat myself down in a corner and went through them several times. I was trying to be good, and a bit realistic about just how many more books do I need to have at home on my bookshelves, so I ended up putting several of them back. As it was, I ended up bringing home 11 books. One is more for Tim (Hades Factor by Robert Ludlum), and one is the only John Grisham we don’t own (Bleachers). But, the rest are all for me!!

I posted a picture of the ones I bought over at my Project365 blog – click here to go check them out. Books, glorious books!

The rest of the day is going to be really busy. We have some errands to run, then a lot of cleaning up and cooking to do before the big Super Bowl party tomorrow. Feel free to stop by, we’re going to have plenty of food and hopefully a great time watching the game 😀

Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite blogs, Vader’s Mom. She just happens to be Stacy too! What, a great name, huh? LOL!

She posted here about her fridge, and I decided to play along. This is also my photo for today, and I’m posting it here rather than at my photoblog. Thanks, Stacy, for letting me swipe this idea and use it here.

I wish my fridge was nice and new. We want to get new appliances, but the washer and dryer we bought in December is going to put a hold on any new appliances for a while. This lovely white tiny refrigerator is about 14 years old and we really need a new one. We want to get a stainless side-by-side, but right now, that’s just a dream.

Anyway, the front of my fridge is your basic hodge-podge. I love putting photos on there, and I have Christmas cards I put on the side that hang up there all year. On the front is a collection of magnets from places we’ve been, the menu for the week, coupons to the Christian bookstore, things I’ve cut out of the newspaper, photos, etc. There’s also a dry erase board where I write reminder notes, or Tim’s “honey-do” list. You’ll notice that is really short right now. I have a bigger list on a piece of paper of things I want him to do before our Super Bowl party on Sunday. LOL

So, here’s my fridge…feel free to play along at your own blog. Leave me a note if you do, and I’ll come on over and check it out 😀

The front:

The side, where I put some Christmas cards. I fix my cereal and coffee on the countertop next to the fridge every morning, so I get to see these smiling faces every morning!

Friday, February 02, 2007
Feast One Hundred & Twenty Nine

Appetizer
What was one of the fashion fads when you were a teenager? I was so totally unfashionable, it’s not even worth talking about. But, when I was in high school, I asked for a Polo for Christmas and got one. I was tickled pink. So, I guess the preppy stuff!!!

Soup
Name one thing you think people assume about you when they first meet you. That I’m a bit standoffish. Mostly, I’m shy and reserved and very uncomfortable around new people until I get to know them. 🙂 After that, watch out people!

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how hard do you work? Umm, is -25 not an option?! 🙄

Main Course
If you were given a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl to sell anything you currently own, what would you advertise? I have no idea, but I’m sure Tim could come up with something to sell.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I love to ________ when it is _________. I love to drink hot cocoa (my homemade) when it’s cold outside.

I was going through a very large stack of mail last night, and one of the things I flipped through was a catalog from Sam’s Club. It’s a Valentines thing, and it has tons of chocolates, diamonds and yummy food in it. I got all weak in the knees. Anyway, in the back, there’s a couple of pages about books now available at Sam’s, as well as some coming soon. A couple of my favorite authors are listed, so I thought I would post the books that are coming out, in case anyone else is interested.

February 6 – Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky
February 27 – Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella
March 6 – Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy

And some others from authors I haven’t read yet, but have heard good things about:

February 6 – Step on a Crack by James Patterson
March 6 – Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

And, I get a newsletter from Debbie Macomber, one of my very favorite authors. She has a new hardback coming out in May, called ” Back on Blossom Street”. Yippee!

Habit-Forming

What are your reading habits? Do you tend to read at specific times during the day, or does it vary from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute?

I am a creature of habit, to be sure. My sister once coined the phrase “routinized” about me, which means I stick to a routine, like clockwork. I do break out from time to time, but the majority of time that I spend reading is in the evenings, before bed. Sometimes, if there’s not much on TV or Tim doesn’t coerce me into watching a movie, I will read earlier in the evening. But mostly, it’s just a half hour or so before bedtime. The only other time that I might read is on the weekends, when Tim is playing golf, hitting practice balls, or at the driving range. I am not a golf fanatic like him; I’d rather spend my time reading.

Click here if you’d like to go participate in Booking Through Thursday and play along at your blog 🙂