Blog Redo


The end of the year is creeping up and it is time for a new start.  Sounds poetic but actually, January 1 seems pretty much like December 31 to me.  I gave up resolutions a LONG time ago and my mother pretty much killed the black-eyed pea tradition when .... well, let's just say one year we didn't have such good luck after eating said peas.  So, no peas, no resolutions, just one day to the next but I am going to give my blog an overhaul.  I have been looking through the various sites that supply backgrounds and templates and such but I think I still like putting up my own photos.  I don't know, the choices are endless and I get bored easily so it is easier to be able to change things up with photos.  We will see.  I will probably add more lists -- mostly for my own reference and -- oh who knows -- maybe I will surprise myself and go all fancy schmancy.  It will be fun!  But, anyway, if you come around here and it looks all wonky don't go away -- I will get it fixed.

2013 Reading Challenge and a Book Review

The year 2013 is rapidly coming to a close.  Most would say I should be grateful for that since this year has been a bit challenging in other areas than reading.  However, I don't feel that way.  I feel that every day is a blessing with it's own work to be done and it's own promise to be enjoyed.  I find that as I am getting older the days pass way to quickly  with too much time spent on meaningless endeavors.  But, as has been said in the past, all good things must come to an end and I guess that means 2013 as well.  Unfortunately that also means the Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge.  However, the 2014 Reading Challenge is just around the bend and I am already looking forward to that.

I signed up for 20 books to be read in the 2013 challenge however, I surpassed that by 6.  It was easy to do since some of my books were actually audio books that I listened to on my daily commute.  Loved listening to them and I found it made me a better driver because I would slow down so I could listen to more of the book!  One of the books is not on my Goodreads list as it just wouldn't load.  I have no idea what I was doing wrong but it didn't work but trust me, I read it.  I think my 2014 Challenge will be about the same.  I will commit to 20 books and see how it goes. 

My last book in this years challenge is "13 Little Blue Envelopes"  by Maureen Johnson.  It isn't usually the sort of thing I read but it was the first in my Nook queue so I decided to give it a go.  I actually enjoyed it although I found it sad in a few places but I think that is due to personal identification with "Aunt Peg" who reminded me so much of my Aunt Linnie.  I thought the concept of the book was really clever -- it progressed the main character -- Ginny -- through her adventures quite well and it didn't seem awkward.  I will say that in the beginning of the book the adventures seemed to have more "meat" to them and the last few adventures seemed to be hurried through -- not as much "adventure" but all in all it flowed nicely.  It ended nicely but rather abruptly and I do think you could see some personal growth in Ginny.  However, I think there were some things left unfinished -- perhaps room for a sequel.  Don't know how that would work but I guess you never know.

I would recommend this book as a light read.  It isn't a long book and it did keep calling me back so it held my interest. 

I also signed up for the "Pre-1960 Classic Children's Book Challenge" and I didn't do as well with that but it did spark my interest in the Nancy Drew books again.  I decided to try a series on this challenge and I started with the Bobbsey Twin books.  They were fun to read but didn't really grab me so I decided to revisit the Nancy Drew Books.  I had tried to read them as a child but they didn't hold my interest.  I was much more interested in the works of Kate Seredy, Lois Lenski and Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I even had a subscription to the Nancy Drew Book Club where I would receive a new book each month but I still couldn't get into them.  I am happy to say that I absolutely loved reading them in my old age and am going to try to read the entire series.  Don't know how that will work because I am going to want to actually buy the physical book because a part of it is actually owning the whole series but I will see how it goes.  All in all, I read two Bobbsey Twin books and three Nancy Drew books.  I am looking forward to the next ND book in the series as soon as I can go get it!


 That is the end of my reading challenge for this year.  I think I did pretty well.  I found authors new to me that I really liked and I discovered audio books which were quite enjoyable.  I think I will only sign up for one official challenge next year but I have set a few personal goals for myself which I will discuss in another blog entry. 

So, for anybody reading -- have a fantastic New Year! See you on the flip side!

Musing Mondays -- December 16, 2013


Musing Mondays is a meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  The goal is to answer just one of several questions posed for readers. 

Today I am going to discuss what I am reading, what I think about it and why I chose it.  I am currently reading "13 Little Blue Envelopes" by Maureen Johnson. It is the chronicle of a young woman, Ginny Blackstock, who is sent on a journey by her unconventional and newly deceased aunt, Peg.  The journey is guided by 13 little blue envelopes containing instructions along the way.  Each envelope contains a destination and a number of tasks to be completed once Ginny is there -- funds are provided by Aunt Peg.  Clearly this is an opportunity for Ginny to discover herself as she is put in situations that she would probably never find herself in otherwise.

The book is reminiscent of "Bridget Jones Diary" (which I never read, I am basing my opinion on the movie) and "Austenland".  It is light hearted yet very deep.  Ginny finds herself in some situations that she handles with much maturity -- more than most seventeen year olds would.  For that reason, I think it is a bit unrealistic but it is a fun read if you don't get too analytical.

I chose it because it is the first on my list in my Nook library.  I keep adding books to my Nook library and then I keep buying physical books so I figured I should start chiseling away at that list.  In fact, that might be one of my own personal challenges for the new year -- read the Nook Books!

I am about half way through the book -- it isn't a long book, I have just been busy, and at this point I would recommend it for something light and quick.  I will review further when I am done.

Christmas 2013

I have to admit that I don't like decorating the Christmas tree.  I am too short, it is too tall, most of the ornaments I have are absolutely decades old and are beginning to look it.  I wish I could kidnap my daughter for a day and have her decorate the tree for me like she used to do when she was a child.  She was a perfectionist and absolutely ran her brother off when he tried to help.  I was more than content to get out of her way and let her do it.


Some years we don't put up the big tree because we have a small tree in the center of the Christmas Village that goes up every year. That tree is decorated with candy canes, jingle bells and glittery pinecones.

Since I don't particularly enjoy the decorating part of things, I started slow this year and did just what made me happy to do at the time.  I didn't want it to become a chore. 

I started with the ornament collection started for me by JLSHall.  I added one this year in the form of a little owl sitting on a candy cane.  For some reason he just spoke to me.

 We added the wreath

The Nutcrackers

And, of course, Tuppy

I wonder where he has gotten off to -- haven't seen him in awhile.  Hmm..that pesky little elf!

So, it is all decorated and I actually think I enjoyed it this year.  I decided early on that there was no "decorate by" date and I think stretching it out just made it better!

Book Beginnings on Friday

Brought to you by Rose City Reader. Book Beginnings on Friday ask that you share the first sentence or two of whatever you are reading.  Unfortunately, I am reading the same book as I was for my last post but here goes.
From Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson.

"Dear Ginger, I have never been a great follower of rules."

I am reading this book on my Nook -- I think I got it for free or on a good sale.  At any rate, it isn't the sort of thing I usually read -- it is sort of Bridget Jones-esque and Austenland-like -- but I got into it on the first page and I am really enjoying it.

Teaser Tuesdays -- December 10

Teaser Tuesdays is a meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to grab your current read and share a couple of random sentences.  Share the title and the author so others can add the book to their TBR list if they so desire.

Currently I am reading two books so I will share from each.

The first is Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson.

 
"Dear Ginger, I have never been a great follower of rules.  You know that."

Hmmm...sounds like a great big "but" to me!  I just started this book last night and didn't get beyond these first two lines before the bag monster got me so I will refrain from even trying to make any sort of assessment at this time.

My second book is Good News for Modern Man:  The New Testament in Today's English.

 I have had this book for years and have never read it because I always felt the King James version to be the gold standard for Bibles but I ran across it recently and decided to give it a go.  The only thing is, I found the little disclaimer on the front page to be a bit off putting.  It says "God's Word for a New Age".  That brings up a whole other issue for another blog.  So, here is my passage:


"No one can be a slave to two masters:  he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other.  So it is with you:  you cannot have both God and wealth as your master."

So, there are my two passages. 

New Christmas Acquisition --

Isn't it cute -- a Nativity in a leaf!  I went to a cute little gift shop in Hurst called Apple Annie's.  I couldn't stay there though because it was hot, crowded and the heavy candle scents were overwhelming but I spied this on my way out and just had to pick it up!  Love it!

The Bungalow Mystery -- Carolyn Keene

Last night I finished "The Bungalow Mystery" by Carolyn Keene.  It is #3 in the Nancy Drew series.  I have been reading Nancy Drew as part of a reading challenge -- 2012 Pre-1960 Childrens Book Challenge.  This particular title was originally published in 1930 so it certainly fills the criteria.

It was an enjoyable read, as have been the two previous titles in the series.  I was introduced to Nancy Drew as a child but I didn't like them -- I am not sure why because now they are quite delightful.  I think I am going to challenge myself -- not necessarily part of some big, public challenge -- to read the entire series.  Not sure if I will actually purchase the physical books but I might since I have a difficult time trying to declutter my books -- seems logical to just add more to the fray -- oh well, at least this is the only area of my life I am not thinking minimally!

Anyway, I digress.  This is a great little read and I recommend.

Our One Guest

We put out some bird seed for the poor, freezing birds but, much to our surprise, none came -- until yesterday afternoon.  This lonely little guy decided he would brave the ice and have a little "something".

Minimalism VS Prepper and How I Messed Up


We live in a new house -- built in 2005 -- but we don't live in a huge house.  We "downsized" to a garden home  - we have more square footage in our current home than we did in our former home but we have fewer rooms.  We have a "garden home" but we have a yard as large as our former yard -- fortunately we don't have to cut it ourselves as that is included in the HOA dues.  When we first moved here we only brought what we absolutely wanted and then took the next six years to empty the former house of our "stuff".  It was so nice, at first, to actually have empty drawers and space in the closets but somehow more "stuff" has crept into those spaces and now I am trying to sift through it and get rid of things. 

A good deal of my problem stems from the fact that I sew. I  quilt, I sew and I do needlework -- all hobbies that generate lots of mess.  I don't have a room to do any of this in -- I sew in the laundry room and while everything fits, it doesn't allow for much clutter which seems to accumulate every where I go.

Because of this I have been doing a lot of reading about minimalism.  I have looked at lots of photos and read lots of blogs.  I have even referred back to one of our favorite books -- "The Not So Big House" by Sarah Susanka.  I have tried to employ the principals of minimalism -- if it isn't useful and you don't love it, toss it. That is difficult because I don't generally acquire things I don't like or aren't useful.  I have already gotten rid of almost every small appliance in this house and ALMOST went out and bought another rice cooker before I came to my senses. Another popular technique is to get rid of books and use an e-reader.  I have done some of that and I do enjoy reading some on the Nook but I still like books.  That creates another problem for me.  I have been known to go absolutely insane while standing at the sale table at our neighborhood B&N and buy books that I "might" read someday.  Well, I only have one bookcase dedicated to my own books and it is now double deep so I have taken some to my neighborhood Half Price Books.  However, I have been reading the Aunt Dimity series by Nancy Atherton and love, love, love the series.  I guess I had a weak moment while "minimalizing" my bookshelf and I took all my Aunt Dimity books to Half Price to sell.  Immediate regret!  So, I got online and bought them all back in hardback versions!  THAT is how I messed up!  However, I got ten hardback for $35 which wasn't a bad deal and I had earned half that from my paperbacks that I sold so I guess I didn't mess up completely!

So, we have had a major ice storm here in DFW and I have been doing a lot of thinking about minimalism VS prepping.  I have always been one to prep for weather events because I have always lived someplace where we actually had weather events.  I don't worry too much about nuclear war and stuff like that but this ice storm -- quite another story.  So, I was thinking about how you could be a minimalist and a prepper at the same time and it dawned on me that you have to be minimalist thinking in order to be able to prep at all because if your house is full of clutter and stuff you don't use, you aren't going to have room to store the things you do need and be able to find the stuff when you need it -- like gloves for instance.  Yes, I know where my gloves are, thank you, but when fishing through the drawer for them it occurred to me that some organization was in order so, as soon as I can get out of here and go shopping, I intend to buy some organizers to get my stuff in order so I don't have to search for it.  Yes, I will probably have to get rid of some stuff -- like the half dozen socks with no mates -- and I will probably have to replace some stuff -- like the half dozen pairs of socks that are no longer pairs -- and I will probably have to do a good amount of rearranging because things are not stored very logically.  I do have to get the Vera Bradly purses out of the drawers and on the shelves which means I have to get rid of the purses that I don't use anymore into a box for Goodwill. 

Ah, yes, so that is what I have been thinking about while being housebound and it looks like tomorrow is going to be a very busy day with all the drawer cleaning and all.

Book Beginnings on Fridays


I learned about this site from JLSHall's blog, A Little Reading.  It is hosted by Rose City Reader and the idea is to share the first line of whatever you are reading.  I have been looking for a new meme to participate in and this looks like something fun.

So, my excerpt comes from "The Bungalow Mystery",  Nancy Drew, #3.  I have been reading the Nancy Drew series for a children's challenge I have been participating in this year and I have been enjoying it a great deal -- much more than I did as a child when I tried to read them.

So, my sentence goes like this --

"Look at those black storm clouds!" Nancy Drew pointed out to her friend, Helen Corning, who was seated beside her in the bow of the small red motorboat."

Nothing like impending danger to lead into a story! How can you not read on.

I am reading this on my Nook Simple Touch which I am finding to be a good thing and a not so good thing but that is another blog entry.