Exceedingly Mundane

Good Monday Morning! I think I’m going to have a hard time getting going today. I guess it’s always like that after a long weekend 🙂

We had a really good, really busy holiday weekend. We went to a family get-together, then got to spend some time with Tim’s brother and his new wife. We played a lot of Tiger Woods on the new Wii (since I cannot find Mario Kart or Wii Fit anywhere, no matter how often or how hard I look, boo-hoo). We went to see “Hancock” at the movie theater. We had a friend over and grilled out a couple of times. We had a great rain yesterday afternoon and I was so glad. It was really dry here and we needed water for our flowers and grass.

I also spent a lot of time on the computer. I have the majority of my applications reloaded, but I still have one or two left to do (most notably, Mastercook, which I use for my recipes). I also haven’t reloaded ANY of my data, except my iTunes library. So, a lot of work left to do on the computer. I also spent a lot of time playing on the computer – thanks Cam for introducing me to yet another really addictive thing online 🙂

I haven’t posted any pictures in ages, because I haven’t reloaded any of my old pictures, or transferred any new pictures since my laptop broke. Maybe I can do that later this week.

On the positive side – I read several books while my laptop was broken. I’ve been entering them at GoodReads and trying to write a blurb there about them.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and will have an awesome week! We’re really looking forward to this coming weekend – our niece and her family move back to town from North Carolina and we can’t wait to see them 😀

Hope everyone has a wonderful July 4th holiday and long weekend!

We’ve got a family reunion to attend, and a few other things we hope to get to. I, for one, hope that I have some time at home to work on rebuilding my laptop. It was delivered today from the repair shop. Yippee!! I was so glad to see that brown UPS van in my driveway 🙂 As expected, my hard drive was wiped clean (this happened last time), but hopefully I am better prepared this time to reload all of my programs and data. I just hope they finally fixed my video problem this time. My laptop lasted 9 months after we bought it before the video failed, then 5 months after the first repair. At least 6 months this time would be nice, a year even better, LOL! It looks like the exact same hardware and software to me, so I don’t have a lot of faith that they’ve solved this known problem and it won’t break again. Anyway, I hope to have some time to reload stuff, and maybe catch up on some blogs and email. I’m woefully behind.

Have a great holiday weekend! Do you have any big plans? I hope everyone has a second to stop and celebrate our nation, and to say a prayer for the men and women who serve and protect our country. I know I’m so grateful that they provide us with the liberty and freedom we enjoy today. Have a great 4th of July! 🙂

I’ve got a few new places I’ve been hanging out online lately. I’m still debating on one more new one (thanks, Cam!), but so far, I’ve got two new places/things that I’m really enjoying.

The first one – do you Twitter? If so, leave me a comment or look me up at Twitter – I’m “exmundane”. 😀

I’ve been twittering for a few weeks now and so far I’m really enjoying it. I don’t know why I started it. I really don’t need anything else on the computer that sucks away my time. But so far, I’m having a lot of fun with it. Let me know if you Twitter too! I’ve already hooked up with several of my blog buddies (you know who you are!), but I’d love to follow some more.

I also joined GoodReads, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I had signed up for LibraryThing last year and gotten all of the books that I own catalogued there. I really didn’t see the need for GoodReads, but, boy, was I wrong! Thanks to Dawn for getting me signed up over there. I’m also “exmundane” there. I went back and listed the books I have read so far this year, as well as a few of the ones I want to read. I like being able to keep up with ratings and reviews of books I complete, as well as books I see mentioned on blogs that I might want to check out of the library. I often see books mentioned at other blogs and think that I might want to read them, but I don’t have a great system for keeping up with them. Before, I’ve been trying to add them to my PDA, but that doesn’t always work. I’m going to try to use GoodReads for that. I’ve debated the pros and cons of going back over the last two years and listing the books that I’ve read. I do keep them here at my blog, in my sidebar, but without a rating or idea of when I read them. I haven’t done that yet, so I might not double back. I might just use it from this point forward.

If you use GoodReads, be sure to let me know so we can hook up 🙂 I recommend both of these, if you want to find yet more things to occupy your time online, LOL!

Have a great day!

Go here to take a fun little quiz (it’s short too, just 10 questions), and see if you can guess which items have the most calories. It’s tough to pick between donuts, chick-fil-a sandwiches and burgers 🙂

I must admit – I only got 6 out of 10 correct. Of course, the second time through, I got them all correct, LOL! 😀

If you take it, leave me a comment and let me know how smart you are 🙂

Since my laptop is still out being repaired, I have very limited computer time. That is leaving me with a lot of time for reading. I’m trying to go through some old magazines I have piled up around here, as well as some books I checked out from the library a week or so ago. You’d think I would be exercising more, on that treadmill we bought a few months ago. Or cleaning out closets. Or something productive. But NO, why on earth would I do that?

On to this week’s questions from the Randomness Meme; they’re book-related, so I couldn’t resist!

randomness…feed your mind and your blog

This week’s questions are book related….

1. Who are your favorite authors? I’d have a hard time picking, as I like a lot of them, both Christian fiction and secular.

2. What are your favorite books? Some of the ones I’ve read and loved are the Redemption and Firstborn series by Karen Kingsbury, books by Kristin Billerbeck, The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg (and most other Berg books I have read), most of the books I have read by Jodi Picoult, The Southern Sisters cozy mystery series by Anne George, and most every other cozy mystery I’ve consumed. The list goes on and on.

3. What kind of books do you tend to read? Sci-fi, Romance, Mystery…etc…? Christian fiction, “women’s” fiction and cozy mysteries are my favorite. I do try to branch out, but not too much!

4. Do you prefer to borrow books from the library or buy them?Both. I do them about equally. Believe me, I have the groaning bookshelves and overused library card to prove it. 😀

5. Do you prefer hardcover or paperback? I actually like the trade paperback size the best, then probably hardbacks next. The small paperbacks are ok, but usually harder for me to hold and harder on my ever-aging eyes!

6. What was the last book you read? What are you reading now? I just finished “Fearless Fourteen” last night and will start the second book in the Restoration series by Terri Blackstock tonight. It’s called “Night Light”.

7. Do you read everyday? I try.

8. On average how many books do you read per year? Let’s see, I started keeping count a few years ago. My average was 35, then 70 and then last year I read 104. I doubt I’ll read that many this year, but I hope to hit the 70-80 range.

9. Do you belong to any book clubs? Nope.

10. Recommend a good book. see #2. Also, I just read Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen and liked them. I also recently finished “Comfort Food” by Kate Jacobs and loved the foodie aspect of it. I’m going to give her first one, the knitting one, a try. I also like books by Dorothea Benton Frank and Debbie Macomber, what I term “women’s fiction”. 🙂

I’ve been on a library kick again. It’s not like I don’t have *ahem* 60 or more books here on my bookshelves to read. It’s not like I don’t have choices. Oh no, I have to keep going back to the library for more books 😀

I’ve checked out several from the library lately that I’ve really enjoyed, so I thought I’d do a quick blurb about them. You know, I read them, I liked them, yada yada yada!

First up was a book I saw mentioned at Deb’s blog, “Garden Spells“. Deb said she really enjoyed it, and I found not only this first book by Sarah Addison Allen at my library, but her new release as well, “The Sugar Queen“. I went ahead and grabbed both, hoping that I would like the first one. I was right, or maybe, Deb was right! I loved both of these books by this new-to-me author. I thought they were good Southern creative storytelling. Very enchanting and charming is what I would call them. You have have your creative side open to them, but I did and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

“Lemon Meringue Pie Murder” is the fourth installment in the Hannah Swensen cozy murder series. Another fun read, with lots of food and a little bit of detective work. The characters are growing and I’m really enjoying this series. I plan to read all of them that I can get my hands on 🙂

“Comfort Food” by Kate Jacobs is her latest release, and I took a chance on it, not having read her first book, “The Friday Night Knitting Club”. I *really* enjoyed this book. I liked the characters, I liked the setting (a group of FoodTV-like celebrities, their families, producers, etc), and as always, I love the references to food. I plan to get her first book soon at my library.

I’d be hard pressed to pick which of these was my favorite. They’re very different books, although the two by Allen were similar in their writing style, although different characters and settings. I’d recommend them all, but that’s just me. I really do mostly like every book I read, so maybe you can’t put any stock in my book recommendations! 🙂

For the record – well, I’m having to guess at this. I had my book information stored on my laptop, which died and is hopefully being repaired. I keep a separate list on my blog, but I’m not sure it’s accurate. My best guess is that I’ve read 45 books, for a total of 14, 487 pages (I think I’m missing a book in here, so I may revise this page count later on). Up next is the latest Stephanie Plum novel, “Fearless Fourteen“. I put a hold on it at the library when I saw it being added to their online listing. I think I’m one of the first ones to get a copy, and I know I’ll enjoy it. Despite the language, I always like these books! After that, I’m going to read book 2 and 3 in the Restoration series by Terri Blackstock, that I also picked up from on hold at the library. I really enjoyed the first book and have high hopes for the next three in the series.

Happy Reading!

Just a quick update. I don’t have much time to get on a computer here lately. I am really missing my laptop. It died a week ago, but just now arrived at the service center today. I’ve had no notification from this unknown third-party repair company that has our extended service contract. I certainly hope they realize how much I *need* my computer to be repaired, returned to me safely, and in a timely manner. Somehow, I don’t think they have quite the same sense of urgency and importance attached to it as I do 🙂

Let’s see – we had a really good weekend. We got to hang out with Chris and Elizabeth a lot on Saturday and had a blast playing the Wii. I think we played almost the whole day 🙂 I even played golf, which is hard to believe! The topic for Sunday’s sermon was good too – “How to Handle Adversity”. Good stuff. Tim and I played more on the Wii Sunday afternoon – I had to work hard to keep him away from the “real” golf course, hehehehe!

We have watched a couple of movies lately that we liked. I really liked “27 Dresses” and Tim (though he’d be loathe to admit it) enjoyed it more than he expected. We both liked “The Bucket List” and despite hearing bad stuff about “Fool’s Gold”, it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. Not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but we’ve certainly seen worse. We’ve got a lot of stuff on the DVR that we need to go through. I’m looking forward to a new episode of “Jon and Kate Plus 8” tonight 🙂

It’s hot here, and no rain. I’ve been watering and running the sprinklers on the grass, and quite frankly, I’m over summer already. I wish it would go back to being tolerable weather with frequent rain showers. This hot and dry stuff is for the birds!

How much is milk and gas in your area? Our Walmart is up to $4.15 for a gallon of fat-free milk. More than gas, which we paid 3.81 for over the weekend. We used our Kroger card and got 3 cents off their regular price of 3.84. At least it hasn’t hit 4.00 here. Yet.

I’ll try to formulate a better post later in the week. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and you’re off to a great start on your week!

Feast One Hundred & Ninety Four
June 20th, 2008

Appetizer
If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose? Europe, the British Isles. Scotland, would be my choice.

Soup
Which browser do you use to surf the Internet? Firefox

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country? Hopefully, it’s at least a 7!

Main Course
Finish this sentence: Love is… patient and kind. Love is everlasting. Love is hope. Love is wonderful!

Dessert
Have you ever been in or near a tornado? We had a tornado touch down in a subdivision just a few miles from our house a few years ago. Very scary.

If you’ve visited here before, you’ve probably seen me mention the fact that I don’t really remember anything from my childhood. That gap in my memory stretches right on through most of high school and college. Weird, huh?

I’d like to think, however, that when I was little, I liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I know I like them now. I’ve been on a kick for over a month now, of regularly having PB&J sandwiches for lunch. That’s because I discovered this at our new Fresh Market:

They grind peanuts fresh in the store and it tastes so good! I keep it in the fridge and pull it out regularly, along with blackberry (preferred) or raspberry preserves and make myself a pb&j for lunch.

How about you… is there any food that reminds you of your childhood? I remember loving my grandmother’s chicken and rice (sort of like chicken and dumplings). I’ve tried many times as an adult to recreate it, but I never come close.

Have a great day!

Ugh, I’m having more serious issues with my laptop. The video went out completely in January (less than 9 months after we purchased it), and we had to send it in to the repair center, where they replaced the system board as well as an LCD bezel (whatever that is). Now, yesterday, the video went out again. We spent hours on the phone with both the manufacturer (HP) and the extended warranty company. HP apparently only gives you a 90 day warranty on any repair work. Obviously, they don’t have a lot of faith in either their service people or their parts. Now, less than 5 months later, I’m having the same problem, which HP says is not their problem. Luckily we purchased an extended warranty, but they insist this is HP’s problem. So, we’re going round and round and round. No one wants to take ownership of the issue.

Anyway, I’m fighting computer problems, so I’m not sure how long I’ll be away from the blog and email. If you’ve emailed me in the last day or so, I may not have gotten it, nor have a chance to get to my mail in a timely manner. We do have an older desktop here that I can use, but my time on it is limited because of space issues and Tim working from home. Hope to be back with better news soon!

Ugh – computers and electronics. Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em!

If you were getting a new cell phone, and you had to choose between an iPhone and a Blackberry – which would you choose?! Cast your vote today 🙂

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there. Another bittersweet holiday for us here at the Exceedingly Mundane house. Much like Mother’s Day where I lament that I won’t ever be a mom, Father’s Day is equally hard for my husband. Thankfully, we both still have our dads with us, so we’ll get to spend the day with them, and enjoy that time together.

Have a great day 🙂

Wow, I haven’t played in a while! Time to feast 🙂

Feast One Hundred & Ninety Three
June 13th, 2008

Appetizer
Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? I’m definitely a pessimist. Some things I can be optimistic about, but most of the time, I’m afraid the pendulum swings the other way quite naturally for me. I do try though 🙂

Soup
What is your favorite color of ink to write with? Blue. Hands down. Tim has learned through the years that black ink just doesn’t work for me (he prefers black!)

Salad
How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them? Um, never. I have really bad nails, ugly feet and hands. It ain’t gonna happen.

Main Course
Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it? Yes! I’ve won lots of things in my life, including two trips from local radio stations. Online, I’ve won money, iTunes gift cards, movie tickets, books, CD’s, DVD’s, and most recently, $750 from Blingo (thanks to my buddy Dawn!)

Dessert
In which room in your house do you keep your home computer? OK, is this a trick question?! We have 5 computers here. The main ones are in the office/computer room, which is our smallest spare bedroom. My laptop normally stays in the den, and Tim’s laptop vacillates between the office and the den. We’re geeks, I tell ya, geeks 😀

I often post photos here on my blog of the flowers blooming in my yard. I plant just pansies in the winter, but I do plant a lot more in the spring. I have some perennials, but I do plant a lot of annuals. The older I get, the more I realize that I want more perennials, so I don’t have to keep doing this every year. I don’t enjoy the planting and I don’t enjoy the watering (watering pots of flowers here is a daily thing, because of the heat and the humidity), but I do enjoy seeing everything bloom. I don’t mass plant one flower – I like a lot of variety when it comes to type and color. My flower beds and planters don’t have a color theme. I have everything from red, yellow, purple, pink and orange 🙂

Lest you think I have a green thumb, I thought I would go outside my comfort zone and post some photos that I normally wouldn’t post.

This year, I have planted petunias 3 times. Two colors, from different stores (Lowe’s and Walmart, nothing from a nursery) – red and purple. The first set I bought lasted almost two weeks. The second set lasted about 6 days. Less than 3 weeks total, and now…. Here’s what they all look like now:

Yes, I apparently have a black thumb. At least where petunias this year are concerned. Believe me, I’m over petunias this year. Disgusted with them. So, I’m replacing some of these with “moss rose” because I love that little flower and usually have really good luck with it. No more petunias for me. No way. 😀

Well, I haven’t talked about books much lately. I’ve been reading quite a bit, so I have a bunch to catch up on! I’ll as brief as I possibly can, though 😀

In my last book-related post (over a month ago), I blogged briefly towards the end that I had picked up several books at the library. I read them all, picked up a few more in the next week or so, and enjoyed them all! I read:

The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky – I really liked this one. Good plot, good characters, and it was a very quick read for me.
The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith – the latest in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series; always a good read
Courting Trouble by DeeAnne Gist – a Christian historical fiction book, set in Texas in the late 1800’s; I liked it and hope to get the follow-up book
Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross – if you’ve read a single Miss Julia book, you know how great they are!
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber – a Blossom Street book; I love these books. Great characters, easy, comfortable read
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear – recommended to me and I did like it. First of a series about a lady detective in England in the 30’s, part psychologist, part detective
Looking for Cassandra Jane by Melody Carlson – a very different themed book than what I normally read, but I did really like it. Cassandra Jane is a very lost girl of the 60’s and 70’s, with no family to speak of, who gets sucked into a cult.
A Penny for your Thoughts and Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels by Mindy Starns Clark – the first two of the Million Dollar mysteries. I really loved these, but my library doesn’t have the rest in the series. Boo-hoo

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