Exceedingly Mundane

I finished my second book in Annie’s “What’s In a Name Challenge” yesterday. It’s a book I bought the week it came out, since I absolutely loved the Mitford books by Jan Karon. Normally, I don’t read books like this right away, no matter how much I look forward to getting them. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I like to hold on to them, and savor them, and “save them for a rainy day”, so to speak. Mostly, I don’t like to read them right away, because that means it will just be all that much longer before the next one comes out. I think, somewhere in my warped mind, that the longer I force myself to wait, the sooner it will be until I have a new one by a beloved author to read. 😕

That said, I went ahead and read this, as I chose it for my “Place” category in the reading challenge. So, I have now completed 2 of the 6 books I chose for the challenge.

I wish I were better at reviewing books. I don’t feel like I’m articulate enough to convey what I felt about the book, or give it an honest review. Mostly, my reviews consist of whether or not I liked the book! In this case, I’m even hard pressed to come up with a good answer for that. Yes, I liked “Home to Holly Springs”, but there were things about the book I wasn’t thrilled with. I was so happy to return to characters I know and love, like Father Tim, Cynthia and Dooley, as well as others that were just mentioned in passing, like Peggy, Tommy Noles and his parents. On one hand, I enjoyed Father Tim’s flashbacks to his childhood and reading about his early life. On the other hand, sometimes the jumping back and forth really got on my nerves 🙂

I will admit, the plot was not what I expected. I’m not sure what exactly I did expect, but this was not it. I did enjoy the book, don’t get me wrong. I love Jan Karon and the way she writes. She’s like a comfortable old quilt to me, even with the “Southern drawl” she gave a lot of the dialect in this new book. The thing is – you see – is that I tend to talk like that, and know many people who do! 😀 I think sometimes that bothers me about a book; that people will think my corner of the world just a redneck, backwards, hick kind of place, and it’s not. I think she did a good job to portray it as more, full of average and even good people. Granted, I’ve never been to Holly Springs, but there are many other places in Mississippi that I have been, that are very similar to what she describes. Anyway, I did like the book, but I didn’t just love it, like I had thought I would. I am looking forward to the next one though, to see where she goes from here with the story and characters.

For the record, I’ve read 5 books so far this year, for a total of 1,830 pages read. Up next is the second Ashley Stockingdale book by Kristin Billerbeck – “She’s Out of Control“. I’m looking forward to some light, very funny Christian chick-lit after completing “Home to Holly Springs”.

Happy Reading!!!

Today’s Question of the Day is all about on-the-go breakfast items. I’m talking about things like pop-tarts and granola bars, things like that. There’s SO many varieties of granola and breakfast bars on my grocery store shelves. I think there’s more every month! Do you buy them and have them in your house? Do you eat them yourselves or does someone else, like your spouse or kids? If you do, what brands and flavors do you like?

As for me, I love the things, but I try really hard not to buy them and have them in the house. I loved Pop-Tarts growing up and would not only eat them for breakfast, but for snacks or nighttime, or anytime. The flavors I like (chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, etc) are very dangerous for me to have around. I am not quite as bad with granola bars and such, but I like those too. I find that granola bars aren’t quite enough for me, for breakfast or a snack. Seems like about 3 bites and then it’s gone, LOL! Tim likes the Quaker ones that have chocolate chips or peanut butter in them, so I bought those for a long time. I have also tried and liked several of the Caribou Coffee ones. Again, I try not to buy them, but boy, every time I go down the cereal aisle, I think there are more flavors and more options. I’ve been eyeing those sweet and salty ones lately and wondering if they are any good.

How about you? Do you buy or eat on-the-go breakfast items like Pop-Tarts or granola bars? Or do you have them around for someone else? Are they just morning items in your house, or afternoon or evening snack items, too? Leave me a comment and let me know! 🙂

Oh, and have a wonderful day!

In the last few months, Beau has started doing something that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He’s such a good dog, even though he barks a lot and digs countless holes in our backyard. Other than that, he’s as good as they come in the dog world. He can be very high-spirited, like a puppy, and he loves to play rough. But, he has his softer side, too. He can be very lovey-dovey and will sometimes just sit and let me pet him and “love on him” for long stretches of time.

I think he’s also protective of me. When Tim is gone and it’s just us, he turns into an uber-guard dog. He will bark at some unheard sound or unseen sight. I think it’s his way of protecting me.

Why he has started doing this, I’m not quite sure, but I love it to pieces:

Beau often comes right up behind me in the evening, when I’m washing dishes after supper. He lays right behind me, and usually presses up against my leg, and stays that way the entire time I stand at the kitchen sink. I don’t know if it’s his way of protecting me, or just being with me. He knows he’s not going to get table scraps, so he’s not begging. He doesn’t do it every single night, but he does do it most of the time. I just love it. It really makes washing the dishes after supper very enjoyable! 😀

It’s Monday, so that means it’s time to plan and post the weekly menu. Such as it is 🙂 Head on over to Laura’s blog over at OrgJunkie for lots more menu ideas and even recipes! Thanks to Laura for hosting this every week 🙂

Here’s what I’m looking at… as always, this is subject to change during the course of the week 🙂 I’m going to be busy towards the end of the week and the weekend, getting ready for our Super Bowl party on Sunday.

Monday – Grilled Chicken (Tim)/Grilled Salmon (Stacy), veggie, mashed potatoes

Tuesday – Maple BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, steamed broccoli, salad

Wednesday – Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches

Thursday – Sloppy Joes, oven fries

Friday – Cheeseburger Soup

Saturday – eat out probably

Sunday – Super Bowl party – Hamburgers, Ribs, Wings, Li’l Smokies, Cheesesticks with Marinara, dips and chips, etc

A funny and a serious dog-related blog entry:

The Funny:

The reason this is particularly funny to me is because Beau just did this yesterday! I have several magnets on my fridge, from places we’ve visited on vacation. I accidentally bumped one with my arm and it went sliding down towards the bottom of the fridge. Before I could turn around, Beau had run over to the refrigerator and was licking on the magnet and trying to pull it off the fridge! It made me crack up, because Tim had just sent this to me in an email yesterday morning! 😀

And the serious. My Project365 buddy Sadie sent out an email about clicking on the Animal Rescue site, to donate free dog food every day. I thought it was a great idea. I need to post this more often, or put it on my sidebar, so I remember to click regularly:

Click here, then click the purple button to donate food:

Feast One Hundred & Seventy-Seven
January 25, 2008

Appetizer
How many times per day do you usually laugh? I have no idea! At least 20, maybe more. I’m always laughing at the TV or Tim or Beau or something 🙂

Soup
What do your sunglasses look like? Plain average black frames. They are polarized though. I always have to have them with me. I can’t be outside with the glare or sun without my glasses.

Salad
You win a free trip to anywhere on your continent, but you have to travel by train. Where do you go? I don’t know. If we have to leave from our city, then I’d probably say up to Chicago. If we could depart from anywhere, then I’d say up in the Pacific Northwest or maybe down the Washington, Oregon and California coast.

Main Course
Name one thing you consider a great quality about living in your town/city. I love that all of our restaurants are smoke-free. I love that we have a strict building code and all of the buildings look really nice and have limited signage.

Dessert
If the sky could be another color, what color do you think would look best? The sky is blue. I don’t even want to think about changing it. It’s the way God made it and I’m happy with the beauty of it. Ok, Tim said to say black, like at night. LOL!

I was going to play along to today’s book-related Meme, “Booking Through Thursday”. But today’s question (found here) is “What is your favorite book that nobody else has heard of?”. Well. I couldn’t come up with an answer for that one! I don’t read obscure or non-mainstream books. I read very common, very average, kind of books! I might could list a Christian fiction book or author that some of you wouldn’t be overly familiar with, but anyone who reads that genre would certainly know. I’m not an “outside the box” kind of reader. I’m very mainstream.

So, I thought instead of playing along to that meme today, I’d do a quick catch-up post on my reading so far this year. I have read four books so far this year, in January, which is below average for me.

The first three books I read were a trilogy I got from my public library, “The Alaskan Quest” series by Tracie Peterson. I’ve read one other set of books by Peterson, the ones that preceded these, the Yukon Quest trilogy. I really enjoyed them, so I was happy to see my library get this other set of her books in. I read them all and enjoyed them. They followed characters from the other books, as well as added a lot of new characters, places, intrigues, and plot lines. These are historical Christian fiction books, set in the Alaskan territory in the early 1900’s. I really enjoy reading about a place and time that I can never visit, especially when it’s well researched and well written.

The other book I read is the first one for the reading challenge I’m participating in, Annie’s “What’s in a Name” challenge. I chose to start with the color option, which is “Windy City Blues” by Sara Paretsky. I picked up this paperback at a recent library sale, along with one other by Paretsky. I had not read anything by her, but she came recommended to me by a fellow book-loving blogger. I was vaguely familiar with her main character, V.I. Warshawski and knew they were detective type novels. What I didn’t realize was that the book I chose for the challenge was a set of short stories, not one long novel. Which is fine, but normally I don’t read short stories, so this was really a stretch for me outside my normal comfort zone.

I did enjoy the book, but I have to say – what I liked about the book was also the one thing I didn’t like about the book. HUH? Does that make sense? I liked that they were short stories and that they were quick to read and easy to complete. But that was also what I didn’t like about reading a set of short stories. I have sort of a “completion complex” when it comes to reading. It seems that with a short story, once I finished one, I was hard pressed to start another one. I did like reading one and having a quick resolution to the mystery and finding out “whodunit”, but then it was sometimes hard to pick up the book and start a completely new story with different characters and plots. That said, I did enjoy it and I do plan to read a traditional Paretsky book about her heroine, Warshawski.

So, I’ve completed 1 of the 6 books for the challenge. Look out for more reviews in the future 🙂 For the record, I’ve read 4 books so far in 2008, for a total of 1,475 pages read. Up next is the first book in the new Father Tim series by Jan Karon, “Home to Holly Springs”. This book is also on my reading challenge, and I’m looking forward to reading about my old friends, Father Tim, Cynthia and the gang. 🙂

Happy Reading!

Today’s “Question of the Day” is a kitchen-oriented one. As well as a nosy one! Do you have canisters in your kitchen? Are they out on the countertop, or in a pantry or cabinet? What do they look like? How many do you have and what do you store in them?

I have a set that I got when we got married. I found a link for the same set, except I have 4 in my set and not three. It’s called Pfaltzgraff Filigree and the link is here on Amazon. I really like them, and they have held up well through the years. I store my all-purpose flour, sugar, cornmeal and tea bags in my set of 4. Like my dishes, they are just plain white and lately, I’ve gotten tired of just plain white. I am trying to decide whether to try to get another set, or maybe just get some Tupperware or Snapware type containers and put my canister stuff in my pantry. That — of course — would require an act of Congress to actually clean out enough space in my pantry to put said canisters. I am a hoarder of the utmost extent and have a pantry that is overflowing. I literally have cans piled two high, four or five deep in my pantry.

Anyway, how about you? Do you have canisters in your kitchen? Where are they and what are in them? Leave me a comment and let me know, I really look forward to peeking into your kitchen! 😀

Stolen from my dear Project365 buddy, Desert Songbird. Thanks for letting me borrow this one!

I love to eat: anything chocolate, shrimp

I hate to eat: beets, any type of greens like mustard or turnip greens, peppers

I love to go: on vacation with Tim, or on long walks on a nearby walking trail with Tim and Beau

I hate to go: to that doctor for my yearly checkup 🙁

I love it when: I have time to spend just looking and browsing in a bookstore and maybe even taking time to have a coffee too 🙂

I hate it when: drivers pull out in front of me and make me slam on my brakes

I love to see: my house when it’s all clean (and cozy and comfortable, too!)

I hate to see: any kind of movies or tv shows that show people hurting children or animals. I won’t watch.

I love to hear: Tim and Beau playing and Beau starts making his “happy” sound, har har har 🙂

I hate to hear: people in restaurants or movies on their cell phone, disturbing everyone else. If you’re at dinner with your spouse or date or family, why on earth would you sit there the entire time on your cell phone?

I won’t tag anyone in particular, but please play along if you’d like! Leave me a comment and let me know, so I can come read your answers 🙂

Well, it’s that time again. I haven’t had a lot of chances lately to participate, but I’m going to give it my best shot this week. I really want and need to get back on a schedule. I really want for us to start back on our walking, but we haven’t been able to do that lately because of several things (weather, Tim’s sore knee, business trips, holidays, etc). Hopefully we can get on a better eating plan first.

Be sure to check out Laura’s blog over at OrgJunkie for lots more menu ideas and even recipes! Thanks to Laura for hosting this every week 🙂

Here’s what I’m looking at… as always, this is subject to change during the course of the week 🙂

Sunday – we ordered pizza for the NFC game

Monday – Meatloaf Patties, smashed potatoes, corn

Tuesday – Crockpot Creamy Italian chicken over wheat pasta, steamed mixed veggies

Wednesday – Waffles, turkey bacon

Thursday – Panko Chicken Strips, mac and cheese, broccoli or green beans

Friday – probably Date Night

Sat/Sunday – TBD

Well, for once, the weatherman got it right! Yesterday, they said we’d have some rain last night (Friday night), with a chance that the precipitation would turn to flurries this morning. So, when I woke up, I went and looked out the back door and sure enough, we were getting flurries! We got just a little bit of accumulation, on places like our patio table and the grill:

And on the top of Tim’s truck:

I tried to take some photos of it actually snowing, but most of them didn’t come out. I did like this one of a cardinal on our fence, because you can sort of see the snow flurries flying around:

You know, of course, that no blog post of mine is complete without a photo of Beau. After all, this was Beau’s first snow! At least that we know of. I know it has never snowed or even flurried in his lifetime here. We have no reason to think he lived out of state before we adopted him, so in all likelihood, this was his first snow. I know he was very intrigued by it. The first time we went out, he stayed out about 10 seconds, then ran back inside! He did get more adventurous later on and had to check things out:

My favorite picture from this morning is, oddly enough, not one that I took! Tim took some from the kitchen, as Beau and I sat at the back door, watching it snow. We stayed that way a long time, me and my Beau baby. He was very patient with me and stayed by my side for at least 20 minutes, just watching it snow and enjoying the peace and quiet and beauty of it:

It snowed off and on for an hour or two, but a couple hours later, it had pretty much all melted and turned to slush. It was pretty while it lasted though!

Feast One Hundred & Seventy-Six
January 18, 2008

Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage? Hmm, I don’t have a favorite one. I love lots of things, I’m a big *drinker*! I like OJ and coffee in the morning, sweet tea and Coke Zero and even this time of year, some hot herbal tea with Splenda added in the evenings. 🙂

Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work. I don’t currently have a desk. I’ll use my area in the living room though – a spindle of Lightscribe CD’s, my Dazzle card reader, and my iPod cable to connect it to my PC

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are? I think I’m pretty honest and straightforward. I’d give myself an 8

Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why? OK, I looked up a list of world capitals (check it out here), and I was astonished at how many of these I had not heard of. I always thought the name Constantinople was better than Istanbul, but what do I know?!

Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down? Lots of things stress me out. Tim tends to have a very calming influence on me.

Wow, I hadn’t played in several weeks! Between the holidays, my laptop dying and our website server going down, I haven’t had a chance to play lately 🙂 Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, everyone!

This week’s topic: Let’s Review

This week’s question is suggested by Puss Reboots:

How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try?

Good question! My answer is not very interesting, I’m afraid. I do read reviews, both at other reader blogs and also in the paper and online. If I see a bad review of a book, it will make me think twice about trying it. If I do try it, I will either check it out of the library or maybe pick it up for a low price at a library sale. I rarely buy books to read unless I know I will love them. And the same goes for reading them – I usually only read a book if I know the author or genre and I’m fairly sure it’s something I will like and enjoy. I’m afraid I’m not very adventurous with breaking out of my comfort zone and reading books that are not my “usual” type. 🙂

Happy Reading!

You choose the caption:

A) “If I close my eyes, maybe she’ll take that camera out of my face”.

B) “If I can’t see her, doesn’t that mean she’s not really here?”

C) “Isn’t this like the hundredth photo she’s taken of me this week?!”

Today’s “Question of the Day” is short and sweet – do you text on your cellphone?

I think Tim and I are pretty up to date on most things electronic. We both love gadgets and are both fairly geeky, in a techie kind of way. However, the one area that we are woefully behind the times is that we don’t text on our phones. We use our phones to talk on, never texting. Occasionally, someone will text us, and we’ll call them back. I’m like, we don’t text, we have to pay per message and we just don’t use it. It doesn’t seem to stop people though, since it seems almost everyone we know does text.

So, how about you? Do you text on your phone? If so, do you text occasionally or are you an addict?!