Hooray

Hooray for Beth! She has graciously stepped up to take over this challenge this year-one that I have completed the past 2 years. It is a favorite of mine. I must admit that her categories for this coming year seem a little harder--but I am up for the challenge. Here is the link to the challenge blog.

So here's how it works: Between January 1 and December 31, 2010, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a food in the title: Cherries in Winter
2. A book with body of water in the title: The Wildwater Walking Club
3. A book with a plant in the title: Tallgrass
   
4. A book with a place name in the title: Mermaids on the Moon
5. A book with a music term in the title: La's Orchestra Saves the World

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.

Monday, Monday

What's In Your Mailbox Monday is hosted each week by Marcia over at The Printed Page.
I have not participated in my Monday memes since the middle of October! Guess it is time to play along again.

Three books appeared in my box this week. They all three look fun. Click the book for a amazon review.







































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What are you reading on Mondays? is hosted each week by J. Kaye's Book Blog

I recently finished The Nanny and am currently reading The X-mas Factor. I am planning on reading several Christmas/Holiday books over the next month!

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Musing Mondays is hosted each week by Rebecca at Just One More Page.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about reading/blogging during the holidays…

How does your reading (or your blogging) fare in the holiday months? Do you read more or less? Do you have to actively make time to read?

Normally my reading and blogging time is severely hampered by all my Christmas duties I seem to have as wife and mom. But this year, we are taking the boys to Disney--leaving on Christmas Day---as their gift. That really cuts down on the number of gifts I need to buy and wrap! Plus, my oldest son is in china and can't receive mail--especially packages--so he is getting money dropped in his bank account! Super easy!

And because I am almost done with most of my challenges, I have free time this month to read whatever I want with no end-of the-year rush to finish.

reading the alphabet

Edited 12/30/2010 : I finished this one again!! This is one of my favorite challenges and am signing up for 2011! My favorite from the list is Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.




The A-Z Challenge is being hosted by Becky again and I am thrilled! Completing this challenge in 2009 was like completing a puzzle--one that I am one book away from completing for the year! Am I signing up again? You bet! The challenge page can be found here. I will only be doing A-Z of book titles only. Care to join?

• A. About Alice
• B. Benny and Shrimp
• C. Condition (the)
• D. Dance (To)
• E. Eternal on the Water
• F. French Milk
• G.Going Coastal
• H.Housekeeper and the Professor (the)
• I. Invisible Wall (the)
• J. Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth
• K. Keeping the Feast
• L. Life on the Refrigerator Door
• M. Mermaids on the Moon
• N. Never Change
• O. Out Stealing Horses
• P. Postmistress (the)
• Q. Queen of the Tambourine
  
• R. Return to the Hundred Acre Wood
• S. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
• T. Tallgrass
• U. Uglies (the)
• V. Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (the)
• W. Wild Wood (the)
• X. Ex Libras
• Y. Yesterday Morning
• Z. Zig-Zagging

Accountability

Read & Review is being hosted again by Jenn again. In 2009 this challenge really encouraged me to be consistent in writing reviews. I will admit that many time the reviews I wrote were weak, but at least I wrote something! I will be signing up again and so can you by following the link, here.

Reading the Year

Edited 12/30/10: I completed this one!!! It was looking grim for a while but I managed to pull it off. Thank's Bart for a fun challenge. :)



This challenge looks like a true challenge but a hoot also. It is being hosted by Bart's Bookshelf and runs the whole year of 2010.

Just a tidbit of information to entice you:

The aim is to read a total 20 books, over ten categories, in 2010. (Was this challenge based solely around the name? I’ll let you decide!)

Rules:

• Read 2 books from each category, making a requirement of 20 books total.
• The categories are intended to be loose guidelines only, if you decide it fits, then it fits. (Apart from those marked **)
• Categories marked with ** have tighter rules, and these must be followed.
• Each book can only qualify for one category.
• Crossovers with other challenges are allowed.
• Books read from 01/01/2010 to 31/12/2010 are eligible

Follow the link above to read the rest of the information and then sign up for it. Go on. You so know you want to!

Oops! Category #10, titled "Up to You" states I must include my choice in my sign up post. I choose Graphic Novels. I don't normally read this genre at all and will post my actual 2 book titles later--after I do a bit of research.

So, on with the categories

• Young Adult
  Any book classified as young adult or featuring a teenage protagonist counts for this category.
  
• 1. Snow Falling in Spring
• 2. The Uglies

• T.B.R. **Intended to help reduce the old T.B.R. pile. Books for this category must be already residents of your bookshelves as of 1/11/09.

• 1. The Condition
  
• 2. Mermaids on the Moon

• Shiny & New
  Bought a book NEW during 2010 from a bookstore, online, or a supermarket? Then it counts for this category.
  
• 1.The Help
• 2.Cherries In Winter

• Bad Blogger’s ***
  Books in this category, should be ones you’ve picked up purely on the recommendation of another blogger count for this category (any reviews you post should also link to the post that convinced you give the book ago).
  
• 1.Benny and Shrimp
  
• 2.The Housekeeper and the Professor
  
  

• Charity
  Support your local charity shops with this category, by picking up books from one of their shops. Again, for those on book-buying bans, books bought for you as gifts also count, as long as they were bought from a charity shop.
• 1. Hens Dancing
• 2. Harry Potter #1

• New in 2010
  This category is for those books newly published in 2010 (whether it be the first time it is has been released, or you had to wait for it to be published in your country, it counts for this one!) 1. 1.Brava Valentine
• 2.The Postmistress
  
• 
  
• Older Than You
  Read two books that were published before you were born, whether that be the day before or 100 years prior!
• 1. We Have Always Lived in the Castle
• 2. Henrietta's War (originally published as vignettes during WWII in Britain)
  
• 
  
• Win! Win!
  Have a couple of books you need to read for another challenge? Then this is the category to use, as long that is, you don’t break the rules of the other challenge by doing so!
• 1. Out Stealing Horses
  
• 2. Tallgrass
• 
  
• Who Are You Again?
  This one isn’t just for authors you’ve never read before, this is for those authors you have never even heard before!
• 1.Kathryn Stockett (The Help)
• 2.Wendy French (Going Coastal)

• Up to You!
  The requirements for this category are up to you!
• 1. To Dance: a ballerina's graphic novel
• 2. French Milk
  

cleaning the shelves

Edited 12/20/10: The year flew by and this year I am just one book short of completing this challenge. But the good news is, 2011 is a new year! My favorite on my list was Harry Potter! I then went on to read the complete series.


This will by my 3rd year to participate in this challenge--it is one of my favorites. I will be posting my list of to-be-read choices, along with my 12 alternates in the next few days.
This is being hosted by MizB and if you are interested in joining in the fun, check out the page all about the challenge, found here!

(note to self: check out mr. linky on challenge page after Jan. 1)

Possible Choices:

1.Dewey Defeats Truman
2. The Invisible Wall-finished
3. Fanny and Sue-finished
4. Ladies Lending Library
5. The Condition-finished
6. Queen of the Tambourine--finished
7. Testimony
8. After Alice--finished
9. Sunday at Tiffanys-finished
10. Never Change--finished
11. Mermaids on the Moon-finished
12. Yesterday Morning-finished


Alternates:

1. Going Coastal-finished
2. The Ladies Man
3. The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters
4. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets
5. Maura's Boy
6. Bride Island
7. Laws of Harmony
8. Bel Canto
9. The Red Leather Diary
10. Harry Potter #1-finished
11. Skeletons at the Feast
12. Matchmaker of Perigord

lending library

This is a repeat challenge for me from last year. I love my library so committing to the Mini Level should be do-able even though I am also focusing on reading books off my own shelves also this year.

To get all the details and to sign up, follow this link to J. Kaye's Book blog. She is the host!

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.
--Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. To learn how to sign up without having a blog, click here.

2. There are four levels:

--The Mini – Check out and read 25 library books.

--Just My Size – Check out and read 50 library books.

--Stepping It Up – Check out and read 75 library books.

--Super Size Me – Check out and read 100 library books.

Personally, I am going for The Mini level:

1. Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers
2. The Condition by Jennifer Haigh
3. La' s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
4. Odd and the Frost Giants
5. To Dance: a ballerina's graphic novel
6. Snow Falling in Spring by Moying Li
7. Summer at Tiffany
8. The Arrival

seasonal reading

Edited 12/20/10: I am one book short of finishing this challenge--I have the book and started it, but just never got it finished. It is Hold Autumn in your hand and I do hope to read it eventually!



A simple challenge and one that I was excited about researching books for before even signing up! It is being hosted by Gina at Book Dragons Lair is hosting. Follow the link to sign up here.






Rules:

1. Four books, one for each season.

2. Title must have a season, not holiday, winter, fall, autumn, spring, summer

3. Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2010

My book choices, all found at my library make this a cost effective challenge to boot!

1.Cherries in Winter: my family's recipe for hope in hard times by Suzan Colon-finished

2. Snow Falling in Spring: coming of age in china by Moying Li-finished

3. When Autumn Leaves: a novel by Amy Foster
(alternate: Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry)

4. Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart--finished

Lightening the Load

I love the idea of this challenge. Not only to get books on my shelves read, but out the door also!
I will be either giving my books to my local thrift store, or I will be offering them as give-aways on my blog. Want to join in too?

• grab the button
• decide how many books you want to read from your shelves (minimum of 20 - no maximum)
  
• find a new home for the books once you read them
• post the titles and the authors of books you've read and passed on
• project runs from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010
• crossover challenge books are allowed

Follow this link to Bibliophile By the Sea to sign up with Mr. Linky.

1. The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook
2. Yesterday Morning by Diana Athill
3. The Vanishing Act by Maggie O'Farrell
4. Mermaids on the Moon
5. Out Stealing Horses
6. Going Coastal
7. The Invisible Wall
8. Tallgrass
9. The Postmistress
10. Going Coastal
11. Fanny and Sue
12. Never Change
13. Ex Libras
14. 'Tis the Season
15. Summer at Tiffany
16. Blue Christmas
17. Snow Falling in Spring
18. So Many Books So Little Time
19. After the Wall
20. Queen of the Tambourine

Rainbows!

Sue is hosting the Rainbow Connection Challenge and I thought, "why not?" I am committing to a single rainbow, which consists of:

(reading 7 books) by either Author (first or last name) or Title starting with R, O, Y, G, B, I and V (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet) books

There is a double rainbow option but with only 6 months to complete this one, I decided not to put that kind of pressure on myself! The challenge runs from January 1, 2010 until June 30, 2010 and you can read all about it here.

R--Return to the Hundred Acre Wood
O- Out Stealing Horses
Y-Yesterday Morning
G-Going Coastal
B-Benny and Shrimp
I- (the) Invisible Wall
V- (the) Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Repeat performance

Edited 12/30/10: I completed this challenge, passing up my original goal of 15 new authors to 20+ (I need to update my list one last time). My favorite new author hands down was J. K. Rowling!! It is not every author who causes you to think about their characters months after finishing the book. :)



The New Authors challenge is back! I participated in 2009 and Jackie is hosting it again. Check out the details over on the page dedicated to the challenge here. I am choosing to read 15 new authors, although I know I will probably read more than that. Since I am keeping my challenges to a minimum and low key I am committing to a low number.

1. Alice Kuipers (Life on the Refrigerator Door)
2. David Benedictus (Return to the Hundred Acre Wood)
3. Claire Cook (The Wildwater Walking Club)
4. Beth Hoffman (Saving CeeCee Honeycutt)
5. Katarina Mazetti (Benny and Shrimp)
6. Yoko Ogawa (The Housekeeper and the Professor)
7. Diana Athill (Yesterday Morning)
8. Maggie O'Farrell
9. Kathryn Stockett (The Help)
10. Elizabeth Stuckey-French (Mermaids on the Moon)
11. Per Petterson (Out Stealing Horses)
12. Farahad Zama (The Marriage Bureau For Rich People)
13. Wendy French (Going Coastal)
14. Sarah Blake (The Postmistress)
15. J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter)
16. Marjorie Hart (Summer at Tiffany)
17. Tom Wilson (Zig-Zagging)
18. Scott Westerfield (Uglies)
19. Mary Kay Andrews (Blue Christmas)
20. Calvin Trillin (About Alice)

Just looking ahead, guys...!

Edited 12/30/10: I failed this challenge--I think when I started the Harry Potter series, they consumed me and I did not have the time for other reading.

I keep telling myself that I am going to scale down my reading challenges for next year. And I am.
Really.
But this one looks like fun and not too hard!
I am choosing the Easy level and my author picks are:
1. Evelyn Waugh
2. Elinor Lipman
3. Charles De Lint: finished, The Wild Wood



Hosted by Alyse
The idea behind this challenge is to read works by authors who have been recommended to you time and again, yet somehow you haven't managed to read any books by those authors. These are the authors that everyone else tells you are awesome, thus the "Awesome Author Challenge" title.

The Rules:

The challenge starts January 1, 2010 and ends December 31, 2010.

Crossover from other challenges is allowed.

Choose the level at which you would like to participate, post about it and come back and leave a link to your post in Mister Linky.

Titles and authors do not have to be predetermined, and can change at any time.

Books can come from any genre or reading level, the only requirement is that you have heard great things about the author, but haven't yet read any of their works.

The Levels:

Easy: Choose three authors and read at least one title from each author.

Moderate: Choose six authors and read at least one title from each author.

Challenging: Choose ten authors and read at least one title from each author.

Over-Achieving: Anything over ten authors.

This and That

I finished The Nanny and I finished Emma... reviews to follow.

Now I get to start some Christmas reading! Starting with The X-mas Factor. That book was stinkin' hard to find and I think I finally had to order it from Amazon.UK. I sure hope it is good! :)

I have been browsing the A Novel Challenge website and looking at all the new challenges being offered for next year. I have decided I am going to limit myself, but there are a few that I do want to participate in again--here's hoping I will to be able to restrain myself! Tomorrow I plan to highlight my favorites.

For tonight, we are off to long time family friend's house to have snacks and watch a Christmas movie all together--a yearly tradition the weekend of Thanksgiving. Tomorrow the men in my family are putting up the outdoor lights and I suppose they will begin pressuring me to do the inside but I am going to hold off until next weekend! How about you? Is your decorating all ready in process?

*smiles*
Kim

Happy Thanksgiving to all you! I hope today finds you feeling as blessed as can be. We are off to spent the day with family--lots of cooking, eating, talking, laughing, baby holding and love.




My goal for the rest of the weekend is reading, knitting, and relaxing!

The Sunday Salon: November 21

I am doing my Sunday Salon post a day early as I know I won't have time tomorrow and I have missed posting on my blog and checking up with all of you.

It has been a full week, what with the arrival of my granddaughter, Adelaide. I have been working 1/2 days all week and spending afternoon and evenings with the new little family. Everyone is doing great and the baby is gorgeous!

Consequently I am not getting much reading time right now and don't have a ton of book news--both on the personal front or on the bigger scale of blogger world news.

The last book I finished was: The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk. It was one of those deep, lets get inside all the unhappy characters heads kind of books. I will post a review of it soon.
Currently, I am reading The Nanny by Melissa Nathan.












It is a chick-litty kind of book, but a tad deeper than your usual fare found in that genre. I felt that after reading The Lucky Ones, I needed something a bit lighter and less of a chore to pick up to read. An "N" book was needed for the A-Z challenge and the one I had previously chosen was set during WWII--not exactly light!
And there you have it! I am looking forward to a short work week next week and having a lovely time spending the holiday with my family!

Oh, and because I wouldn't be a good Mimi if I didn't, I am sharing a couple more shots of our newest little addition! :)

The grand appearance!

Finally! I have a couple of minutes to update.

I am a Grandma!! There are not enough words or ways to express how blessed I feel, or how amazing the past 24 hours have been. I got to be with my daughter and her husband through the whole labor, and to be able to watch that little life enter our world was simply awe inspiring.

Adelaide Renee made her appearance November 17th at 4:51 am
She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20.5 inches long.
She has red hair.

She is beautiful.
She is precious.
She is a wonder.
She is a miracle.

Here are some pictures and you see if you can tell how much we are in love with "our" little red-haired girl!

Her very loud appearance!

Meeting Mama for the first time

A new family is created

Meeting Uncle Samuel

Meeting Uncle Austen

Crazy but oh-so gentle uncles!

Uncle Austen's thumb: Adelaide's foot

Mimi (me) on cloud nine

Poppy(my husband) falling in love again. It has been a long time since we had a little girl to hold!

Thank you for all the sweet comments and well wishes left in my post from the other night. I so appreciated them all!

Baby Day!

Grandbaby is finally on her way!
My daughter's water broke this evening after an induction was scheduled to begin tonight! The ironic thing is that today is her due date and after 2 weeks on bed rest and not a lot of action, she had steeled herself into believing baby would be way overdue!

I am so over the moon with excitement and joy I can hardly sit still. Not much reading has been happening here, as we have been giving them dinner each night for week and I have been trying to ease some of her boredom with mindless tv watching. Can I just say that I do love a good chick flick!? That, and we have been knitting last minute little baby things. :)

Here they are headed out the door a little bit ago--on the way to the hospital.

Wordless Wednesday

Falling & Landing
November 2009

The Sunday Salon: waiting and planning

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.
(for grandbaby girl D to arrive)
That is what I am doing today.

Amongst the waiting I have managed clean the kitchen and assign cleaning duties to other members of this clan. Now the "men" are watching and yelling through the Sounders game and I am holed up in the den--listening to the cries of "Lebeck! Lebeck! Aughh!!!" over and over. We must be getting close to scoring.

On a personal note, I am still not feeling 100% and frankly am getting tired of that!

Reading wise, I am just about done with The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk. For now all I will say is that it is a good thing the book is not too long. Otherwise I may not have been able to stick with it.

Up next is, Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama. She is an author whose works I have always enjoyed to the max, so I am really looking forward to this one. It has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years and I can think of no good reason why I have not read it before!













I also want to point out that there is a lot of activity in the book blogging world regarding challenges for 2010! If you have never been to A Novel Challenge, you must! I am pleased that a couple of my favorites are being offered again.
Here is a glimpse of my favorites so far:








































There are lots of challenges being listed and some fun Christmas events coming up. I wrote about a couple of them which I am participating in here.

So, off the computer for me and on to the rest of the day. I am so happy we have lots and lots of homemade chili for dinner tonight so I don't need to cook!


So, what are you up to on this fine November day??

hard to concentrate on reading--

39 weeks
and still waiting

I am more than ready to become Mimi!

Bargain Days

Today I decided to go browse a bit at our local TJ Maxx, a store I very rarely frequent.

You know, to look for a few little baby things in my hopes to urge this little bundle of sweetness to hurry up her appearance. And while I did find a couple of little items in glorious, delicious pinkness,









I was also pleasantly surprised to find a couple of book deals!
TJ Maxx has books?
Who knew?

What did I find?
Well, one book to add to my Grandma library and one book which I have been wanting to read for over a year but the hold list at my library is always so long I never bother to hold it. I will let you decide which book is which!

$2.00 (normally $8.99)














$3.00 (normally $13.99)












Apparently I need to frequent this store a bit more often!