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TSS ~ Sometimes It Even Happens Here

Every time I read about people getting the chance to meet authors on book tours, I get really jealous. Living in SouthWest Virginia, the opportunity to visit an author while on a book tour is few and far between.  Next Saturday, that will change at least for the day.

Kathleen Grissom, the author of The Kitchen House, will be stopping in Lynchburg at Givens Books at 2pm on February 13th.  The book was published on the 2nd, so it’s hot off the presses.  It got me out of my reading blahs.  I just could not put it down.  I read The Kitchen House last month and absolutely loved it.  Check back here on Friday for my review.  I will also be posting about the book tour during my next Sunday Salon post.  If all goes well, I’m hoping to have a signed copy to giveaway.

In the meantime, you can check out Kathleen’s site.  On her About The Kitchen House page.  There are some great resources there, including pictures I wish  I had seen while I was reading the book.  There is a book trailer as well.  I just finished watching it.  A slight word of caution: if you don’t like to know much about a book before reading it, you might want to hold off on it.

Now, be honest.  How many of you thought I was referring to this weekend’s snow storm?  Well, that news also fits my post title.    We had a great time sledding in the snow and making a snowman.  Thankfully we were able to make it to church this morning and then to the mall.  I had a serious case of cabin fever since this weekend was the second in a row that we were snowbound.  Yesterday morning I took a short video of our front yard.  We didn’t get hit as hard as some of my book blogging girlfriends in Northern Virginia or Maryland, but it was an anomaly for the Roanoke Valley.  I want to thank everyone who stopped by on our Friday snow day.

Reading and Reviews This Week

This week I read and reviewed Tainted by Brooke Morgan as part of the author’s TLC Book Tour.  I’m hosting a giveaway of Morgan’s debut novel, so be sure to check out my review.

I also finished Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  I started that during my reading malaise and put it down because I didn’t want it to be ruined by my lack of reading enthusiasm.  I thought it was a great companion to The Glass Castle and will be reviewing this novel soon.

For those of you not watching the Super Bowl (I’m assuming anyone reading this isn’t – who watching the big event would also read book blogs during the show?), I hope you enjoy your evening snuggled up with a good book.  I’ll be reading Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

TSS – January in Review

January has come and gone in a flash.  I would think at some point I’d stop being surprised at how fast the time goes by, but it never ceases to amaze me.  This is a month I’m pretty happy to have behind me, though.  It was tough getting back into the school routine after the Christmas break and I am working on a project at work that has tapped me out in a lot  of ways.  I was hoping that it would be finished by the first of February, but it now looks more like the 16th.  The end is near, though.  That’s a good thing.  I’m looking forward to my work getting back to normal.

Blogiversary

I celebrated my 3rd blogiversary on the 17th.  Thank you so much to everyone’s well wishes.  The giveaway, including a 1g iPod Shuffle and books is still open.

Reading

Reading this month also went in fits and spurts.  January began on a high note with Shanghai Girls by Lisa See for a TLC Book Tour.   I followed that up with a near manic reading of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  I couldn’t read them fast enough.  However, once I was finished with what we currently know about Katniss and Peeta,  I entered a reading dry spell.  I picked up and promptly put back down 8 books, including 3 audio books.  I just couldn’t be satisfied.

Thankfully, my malaise came to an end when I picked up The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.  She is coming to Southwest Virginia in February and I’m looking forward to the chance to meet her.  I followed The Kitchen House with A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.  I loved it so much that I couldn’t wait to finish it before I posted about it.  Last night I finished Robin Maxwell’s O, Juliet, a novelization of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  In audio, I started Mudbound by Hillary Jordan.  I’m nearly finished.  I’m hoping to finish it today, but it may be early next week.  I am enjoying this novel, but it makes me so mad at times, too.

Reviews

I reviewed the following novels  this month.  Click on the image to go to the review.

Reading Deliberately
This month, I finished nearly seven books.  Of those books, three were books of my own choosing – The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mudbound.  Four were review books – O, Juliet, Shanghai Girls, The Kitchen House, and A Reliable Wife.  The Kitchen House and A Reliable Wife I said yes to this month.  As much as I have enjoyed those books, it shows a lack of  resolve in saying no to review copies.  My initial goal was to only request one book per month.  I requested those as well as Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Small Wars by Sadie Jones, Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd, and The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrel.

So, I have had mixed results with goal of reading deliberately.  I am more aware of what I’m doing, though.  That’s a good start.  Lifestyle changes take time.  On the upside, I did say no to 10 book review requests.  Compared to 3 to 5, that’s progress.

The Sunday Salon ~ TGFF (Thank God For Florida)

For once, I’ve had a great week.  I spent most of it in Orlando at Ektron’s Synergy ‘09 Conference at the Disney Grand Floridian.  I spent five days and four nights learning more about CMS 400 version 8.0 (the content management software I wish I could afford to power literatehousewife.com), networking with consultants and meeting new people.

Ektron really knows how to put on a conference!  We registered on the beach at dinner the first night, which was fun and relaxing.  Tuesday night was Customer Appreciation Night and they scheduled a special event at the Indiana Jones  attraction at Hollywood Studios.  We watched the show and got to eat dinner on the sound stage.  It was a great time.  The conference closed with raffling off a lot of wonderful prizes.

I didn’t win a prize at the conference, but I was extremely lucky nonetheless.  I knew heading down that Sandy from You’ve GOTTA Read This! lived in Orlando and I hoped to get a chance to meet her in person while I was there.  What I didn’t know was that Elle from Blithely Babbling was down there with her family.  Elle was one of my first non-friends to consistently leave comments on my blog when it was “52 Books or Bust.”  Most importantly, she has stuck with me after the disastrous books I selected for my first foray into the online book club world.  She lives in Canada and I never thought we would ever meet.  Imagine my surprise when I got an email from her after she saw me tweeting about the conference!  We were able to meet up at Downtown Disney on Wednesday after Synergy ended and while her beautiful daughter took her nap.  We got frozen lemonade and sat down on a bench to talk.  We first discussed our children, but our conversation turned to  books and blogging before long.  Elle is considering creating a new blog just for her book reviews and she has got me prepped for reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon in January.  She’s a huge fan and I cannot wait to see what has her all fired up.  Most importantly, I’m so happy that I can now call her my friend without having to mention “online.”  That was a touch of Disney magic for me.

After my visit with Elle, I went back to my hotel room and packed while waiting for Sandy to arrive for our dinner.  I was so excited and that helped me not mourn over the beautiful place I would be leaving very early the next morning (the Magical Express loses a lot of magic when you have to be up and ready to check out by 5:30AM).  I was packed and ready to go just as she was calling me and we met in the lobby.  We ate at Citricos and had a wonderfully funny waiter named Joe.  From the very first moment, Sandy felt like an old friend to me.  We had such a great time talking about family, blogging, and reading.  I got to hear all about her wonderful cruise and how she grew up in Indiana.  It was just a great time in a really nice atmosphere.  The nearly three hours we were together flew by.  Just like with Elle, I’m so happy to have met Sandy in person.  She is every bit as funny and delightful IRL as she is online.

I hope to post more pictures during the week.  My co-worker Lauren attended Synergy with me and she has some fun pictures on her camera that I’m hoping to snag from her when she gets back on Monday.

I hope you all had a wonderful week, too!

The Sunday Salon ~ October Frenzy

My kids are driving me to drink this weekend!

Emma had a sleep over Friday night with one of her after school friends.  Danny and I were sure to do something special with Allison because she cried so hard when she realized that she was not invited.  Allison enjoyed her solo trip with Mom and Dad to the pet store and to Famous Anthony’s – a local family restaurant.  We topped off Friday night with a “camp out” in the basement.  She really loved that, but woke up at one point crying because she missed Emma.  When we picked Emma up, we spent some time at Heidi’s house.  From the moment we arrived, Emma made sure that Allison was not included in the play.  Apparently the older girls were going into Heidi’s room and locking Allison out.  Heidi’s older brother thought it was so wrong that he locked Heidi’s door so no one could go in.  Allison had a hero and didn’t even know it. LOL!  The rest of Saturday was spent listening to whining, bickering, fighting, and crying.  There was a short respite from that when we forced Emma to take her first nap in probably 2 years.  Today hasn’t started out much better.  [Note - in fact it got much worse since I started writing this post. Could it be the weather? The excitement about Grandma and Grandpa coming?  Their birthdays?]  I am indulging in some adult beverages tonight.

My parents are arriving early this week and I’m looking forward to their visit even though it meant I had to miss out on a Blacksburg get together with Kathy, Jaime, and Miriam from Hatchette Book Group yesterday.  In the midst of all the drama, it’s shopping and cleaning in preparation for their arrival.  This then begins the girl’s birthday week.  Allison turns 5 on Thursday and Emma turns 7 on Friday.  The party is at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday.  Yeah, this is going to be quite some week.

On to bookish news…

I am very sorry that I haven’t been on the blogs much this month.  October is busy both at work and at home.  I’m hoping that will clear up after this week.  I would like to take a moment to congratulate Meghan from Medieval Bookworm on her wedding.  Stop over her way and congratulate her (although I really think her new husband is the real winner…).

I did read two books this week:

This novel was sent to me by the author in February.  I’ve been meaning to read it and have tried to several times before.  I put it on my must-read list for October because I’ve had it for so long.  Also, although their is no tie in to Halloween or this time of year, I thought the cover, which I love, was a good fit.

It took me a while to get into it and read slowly for me because the pacing and the dialect and pacing of the language was very British.  For example, there was no “the” in front of hospital (I’m going to hospital instead of I’m going to the hospital).  I kept tripping over that and other word choices.  I am happy to have finally read it.  I feel that I’ve stretched my horizons and, when I make it over to England myself, I’ll know to ask for veg at tea.  It’s a nice story about two single parents struggling to keep their children happy and safe.  I liked the premise and thought that Mina and Peter were sympathetic and honest characters.

As I posted Friday, a parent at a local high school became upset when his son came upon a copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky at school.  Because he pitched a fit, the school took both of their copies off the shelf.

I cannot believe that one parent feels that his objections about a book should dictate school policy.  I further can’t believe that the school would cave to this single parent.  So, I decided right then and there that I would read this book and encourage as many other people to read it as I can.  I can’t say that I’ve ever even heard of this book before this incident.  It definitely was not on my radar and, prior to this bruhaha, I’m not sure I would have thought twice about it after seeing its association with MTV (I had no idea that they published or at least used to publish books).   I’m happy to say that I am one person turned on this book because of this parent.  Well, I started reading it Saturday morning.  I finished it before I went to sleep.  Yes, I enjoyed it that much.  No, I cannot say I could understand someone who has read this book wanting it removed from school property.  The rest I’ll leave for my discussion in the Facebook book club I have set up specifically for this book and my review.

This week I’m reading…

I am serving as Victoria Hislop’s book tour host on Tuesday for her TLC book tour for her second novel, The Return. I haven’t read her first novel, The Island, but after reading the first section of The Return, I’ll planning on it.  What’s even better is that I know I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.  I’ll be getting back into this novel as soon as I finish this post.

My best friend gave me The Shack for my birthday (shh, last year, please don’t say anything).  This past spring, my dad asked me if I’d read it.  I told him that I had a copy but just don’t often read Christian fiction, so I don’t think to pick it up.  When I went home this summer, he asked me if he gave me a copy of the book on audio if I would listen to it.  So, in honor of the fact that my best friend sent it to me (wh and that my father really wants me to read it, I’m going to read this while he’s in town.  That way, we can talk about it, too.

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The Sunday Salon ~ Dog Days of Summer Selections & Winner

Okay, today is July 12.  I promised to draw the winner for my initial Dog Days of Summer contest on July 4th.  I got sidetracked by the fireworks and news about my new niece Lawson (she’s a doll baby, BTW), and apparently it slipped my mind.  I’m back on the ball today!

To refresh your membory, I recently came into possion of two books featuring dogs:

The Art of Racing the Rain by Garth Stein, sent to me by HarperCollins
Secrets of Happiness by Sarah Dunn, which I won from Beth Fish Reads (whoo hoo!!!)

I decided to set aside a week in August, when we’re all hot and in need of a break, to dedicate to some wonderful books about dogs.  I wanted to have three books to review that week.  I also will have commemorative bookmarks, books, and rub-ons to give away.  It sounds like there are other bloggers and readers out there who would like to participate as well, which really makes me happy.  I’ve got a feeler out for a button right now.  As soon as I have one, I’ll post about it and have Mr. Linky available for others to sign-up.

When I first posted about this, I was beginning to feel a malaise hit me. I wanted other’s suggestions for the third book, but I wanted the book to be older and I would ultimately pick what interested me the most, regardless of who won my contest.  I actually picked two books.  I may read and review them all, or one may end up just being there as an alternate if it’s needed.  Here are the two books I’ve selected:

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

+ + +

Thanks to everyone who commented and left book suggestions.  You were all included in this drawing, brought to you by List Randomizer.  Without further delay, here is the winner of a Dog Days of Summer bookmark (to be delivered once they actually exist) and a grab bag of three books.  Our lucky winner is:

Veens from Giving Reading a Chance!

Congratulations!  Please send me your address and your books will  be sent out this week!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful week!

Sunday Salon ~ To D.C. and Back

I finally got my pictures back from my trip to D.C. earlier this month. I wish that I could say they were worth the wait, but they were most definitely not. I forgot to bring the digital camera with me, but was “lucky” enough to have an unused, cheap disposable camera I got at a conference last year. Well, you get what you prepare for it seems.

The Wednesday of the week I was in Alexandria I met Swapna and Deborah at Chadwicks, a restaurant with great food and a nice atmosphere. We started off with a wonderful appetizer and chatted throughout the entire meal.  I just realized that Miss Deborah is now Mrs. Deborah.  Congratulations!  I hope that your big day was beautiful!  At the end of the evening, Nicole, my co-worker, took some pictures of us. This camera, even with the flash activated, did not do well inside. Here is the picture of the three of us:

We’re all actually quite beautiful when you remove all of the graininess.

The next evening we ventured into D.C. proper.  The last time I was there was eons ago.  I can’t remember if my siblings and I went to the Mall when we were there in ‘96, but we did during the summer of ‘88, which was the first time I was there.  Needless to say, when my husband and I were on the Mall in September for the National Book Festival, my eyes were on the tents, books, and authors, not on the Capitol.

Here is a picture of me expressing my love of Michigan.  I can’t remember what this monument was, but each state and territory was represented.

We also saw the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

All of my pictures from inside the Lincoln Memorial did not turn out.  One awesome thing that happened as we walked down the steps was hearing a boy’s choir from Illinois sign the National Anthem, America, the Beautiful and a medley of Lincoln’s speeches.  It was an awesome experience, especially the National Anthem.  They were incredible.  I’d never heard a boy’s choir in person before.

After leaving the Lincoln Memorial, we went to the Vietnam Memorial.  I remember visiting there in ‘88.  I thought it was neat then.  Now I found it very touching and sad.  I realize now that those soldiers were really just babies (and I mean that in the most respectful way).  There were so many of them, too.  God bless them all.  I called my Aunt Lucy while I was there.  Here brother, Kenneth R. Endsley, was killed in action on June 2, 1967.  He was a Marine.  Despite the 42 years that have passed, Aunt Lucy remembers his death like it was yesterday.  I hadn’t fully realized until that moment that he saved my father’s life.  Dad had decided to enlist in the Marines instead of being drafted.  Kenneth was killed within weeks of when my dad was supposed to enlist.  His death made my dad decide to wait to be drafted.  Had he been a Marine, there is little doubt that he would have been sent to Vietnam.  In the Army, he was one of only three members of his basic training unit who were sent to Germany instead of Vietnam.  I found his name on E21.  It was the first name in row 33.  I made the best tracing I could with thick journal paper and a pen.  I traced each letter of his name with my finger and said a prayer for him.  There might not have been a Literate Housewife without the sacrifice that Kenneth R. Endsley made.  I cannot thank him enough.

Have you recently traveled to an interesting place?  If so, I sure hope your pictures turned out better than mine. LOL!

The Sunday Salon ~ 06.14.07

Today has been a preparation for the week to come. On Tuesday I’m heading to the DC area with a couple of my co-workers for a Learning Tree course on Project Management in a Scrum Environment.  Ooo!  I know, exciting stuff, eh?  It actually should be beneficial for my career and it’s always nice to get out of the office for a little while.  So, I’ve spent today and yesterday doing the following:

• laundry
• shopping for the girls to ensure that Danny has everything he needs  while I’m gone
• figuring out what kinds of fun things to bring with me (books, stamping materials, etc.)
• catching up on the 4Rs Challenge Forum – if you haven’t already joined, today is the last day to do so and be included in my my fun little drawing
• catching up on some Early Reviewer reviews I needed to finish

Not anything terribly exciting with the exception of finding a fun indie book store and reading 84, Charing Cross Road.

My trip to DC should be fun.  I’m hoping to get the opportunity to go out Wednesday evening with some of my fellow bloggers/tweets : S. Krishna from S. Krishna’s Books, Michelle from GalleySmith, Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelf, and Deborah from Books, Movies, and Chinese Food.  It should be a great time.  Of course, assuming it all works out, I’ll be blogging about it later this week.

Other exciting things are happening over the next week, too:

• Amy from My Friend Amy is hosting A Summer of Hitchcock, and it sounds incredibly fabulous.  What a fun idea!  It kicks off on Monday with reviews of North By Northwest.  I’ve been too busy to watch this – BOO!  I’m looking forward to reading what others have to say.  I’ll be participating as the summer goes along, though.  Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director.
• Natasha from Maw Books is hosting a Blogiesta beginning on Friday.  It’s a 48 hour blog-a-thon to help everyone focus on those things they’ve been putting off to improve their blog.  God knows that I’m in serious need of participating.  Unfortunately, I’ll be in my training until 3:30 Friday afternoon.  Then I will be driving back to Roanoke and Saturday I really need to spend my time with my family.  I wish everyone luck and may try to sneak in some Blogiesta work in while I’m in DC.

Well, I’d much rather stay online and write some more, but there is a huge make-up storm cloud a-brewing between Emma and Allison.  Also, Danny just asked if anyone wanted pizza for dinner.  I’m there.  See ya!

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The Sunday Salon ~ 06.07.09

I’m sitting here thinking that I can’t believe that it is June already. This middle of 2009 is upon us. For me, this is a time to guestimate how many books I’ll have read by the end of the year.  My first book of 2009 was Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.  It was my 134th review here on The Literate Housewife Review.  On the 15th, I’m planning  on posting my review of Baggage Claim by Tonya Michna.  That will be my 175th review.  That puts me at 41 books reviewed in the first half of the year.  That puts me on track for reading 80 to 85 books this year, or approximately a couple month’s worth of books for S. Krishna. LOL!  This sounds like it is probably about right for me. How many books do you think you’ll be reading this year?

Figuring out that also made me realize that I’ll be celebrating my 200th review this year!  I cannot believe that since January of 2007 I’ve will have read that many books.  Unbelievable!  I’ll have to think of some sort of celebration for that day.  I’ve already decided which book I will be reading and reviewing ~ America America by Ethan Canin.  Why?  Because it was a Christmas present given to me by one of my best and oldest friends, Kristin, gave it to me.  Since there was a time when we didn’t think she would be here with us today, this gift is very special to me.  I can’t imagine a better selection.  Do you ever choose special books to celebrate a reading milestone or am I just a little to OCD for my own good?

June is also a special month for Jen from Devourer of Books.  Her little bundle of joy is due to arrive any day now.  Today in her Sunday Salon post she has pictures of the nursery.  They are so adorable and to think that her mother made every fabric item is incredible.  I can’t wait for the big day.  I know that Jen will be a wonderful mother, but mostly I just want to know the baby’s name.  I don’t know what it is, but it makes me crazy to not know a baby’s name.  When my best friend, Trista, called me after the birth of her daughter, my first question wasn’t “Is she beautiful?” or “Is she  healthy?” or “How over the moon are you?!?!”  Nope.  My question was – “What is the baby’s name?”  LOL!  Her name is Abigail, by the way.

I took a compulsive yet failed book buying spree to the local Barnes & Noble Friday afternoon.  The books my tweeple suggested were not in stock and after I finally found two books (can’t even remember what they are now – so I suppose that was all for the best), the line was too long for me to be able to wait, purchase my books, pick up Ally, then Danny, and finally Emma on time.  I did, however, see a memoir thta really peeked my interest ~ Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert.  Has anyone else picked it up?  I have love Little House on the Prarie as long as I can remember.  I’m still haunted sometimes by the episode where the school for the blind burnes down.   Caroline was also on the short list of baby names because I love Ma so much.  So, when I saw Melissa Gilbert’s memoir I had to pick it up and take a look.  I’d love to read it, but I’m not sure that I want to pay full price for it.  I’d rather spend the money on the DVDs.  This would make a good library selection or a bargain book buy for me someday.  Speaking of celebrity memoirs, Nat @ Book, Line, and Sinker has a fun post up about that today.  Check it out!

The 4Rs Challenge

A special thanks to all of you who have already signed up for Nicki and my new reading challenge – The 4Rs Challenge!  There were 23 members earlier this morning and I’m looking foward to being on the forum more tonight to make all of my suggestions. If you’ve ever wanted to tell me where to go what to read, here’s your chance!

Today Danny’s taking the girls to the zoo.  I think we’re all going to like it.  What are your plans for today?

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The Sunday Salon ~ 04.26.09

I hope that all of you had a wonderful week.  The weather here has been beautiful, but too hot for April.  It was in the low 90s yesterday, making Vinton, VA’s annual Dogwood Festival and Parade an enjoyable, but sweaty occasion.  Let’s just say that I got myself a snow cone along with the girls simply to have some ice.  It was hot.  Without sunscreen, we all would be lobsters today.

I had a fairly slow reading week following up the fun and fabulous Read-A-Thon.  I started out reading The Lost Hours by Karen White, but I just wasn’t feeling it.  I think I’m really going to enjoy it, but I needed something different.  Luckily, my copy of The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer came in the mail on Tuesday.  It is a fabulous novel that was selected by Picador for their third Twitter book club held on Friday.  Although it’s not even 200 pages long, I didn’t finish it until Friday. I really enjoyed participating in the Twitter book club.  You can find out more by following @PicadorUSA on Twitter or see the related articles at the end of this post. 

My reading sped up yesterday.  I started reading The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks.  I’m hosting her on her TLC book tour on May 4th.  It’s an interesting novel that I’m having trouble putting it down (that’s not really a problem though, is it?).  I’m currently on page 135.  It’s the story of Sunny, a woman my age, who grew up in a New Mexico commune.  I’ve never read a book set in New Mexico and I’m really enjoying getting to know it a little better.

After a week off, I also wrote and published a couple of reviews.  A Silent Ocean Away by DeVa Gantt was the April selection for my Historical Fiction Lovers book club on Facebook.  It was a lot of fun to read and would make a wonderful escape from April showers.  The Tory Widow is the first installment of a trilogy surrounding the Revolutionary War written by Christine Blevins.  I don’t think that the Revolutionary War is my time period, but I enjoyed learning more about printing presses through Anne’s experiences.  I think that novel will be a real winner for a lot of Historical Fiction fans.

Next week I’m hoping to make a huge dent in my backlog of reviews.  Look for my reviews of Coventry by Helen Humphreys, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, and BoneMan’s Daughters by Ted Dekker.  Speaking of Boneman’s Daughter, I’ve got a giveaway open to win one of three copies.  Ted Dekker gave a wonderful interview on Blog Talk Radio on Monday.  If you listen and answer the question posted in my sidebar, there are many additional entries available.  So, have you entered yet?

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The Sunday Salon ~ Creativity

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

This Week in Creativity

I designed and finished all of my bookmarks for my Bookmark It Club and I can’t wait to get them to everyone!  Dar from Peeking Between the Pages and Beth from Beth Fish Reads were the first two members selected to pick a book.  Dar selected Serendipity (great choice!) and Beth will be making her choice on Monday.  This has been a lot of fun for me.

I wanted to get a little creative this morning in between loads of laundry.  My Grandma C, my mother’s mother whom I love very much, celebrates her birthday in April. So, after I got the girls set up to paint at the kitchen table this morning, I sat down to make her a birthday card.  What I like about making cards is that I automatically spend the time picking out my supplies, designing, creating, and then writing the card thinking about someone I love. I really wanted to make it pretty for her, so I chose Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette card stock, Bella Rose patterned paper, and Eastern Influences and Wonderful Words stamp sets.  All of the supplies are Stampin’ Up.  I am so excited with how it turned out. I hope that she likes it.

This Week in Reading and Reviewing

I read The Last Witch of Langenburg by Thomas Robishaeux, Laura Rider’s Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton, and A Silent Ocean Away by DeVa Gantt.  A Silent Ocean Away is the Historical Fiction Lovers’ selection for April.  It was a great read.  Follow the link earlier for more information on how this book and the rest of the Colette Trilogy came into being. I also reviewed Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo.  I have written my review of Foreign Tongue by Vanina Marsot, but I decided to schedule it for posting tomorrow (although it’s killing me not to just automatically post it). Later on today I’m hoping to write my review for Laura Rider’s Masterpiece and schedule that for Wednesday. Watch out world, I may be getting organized!

On Monday I posted a chat with Castle Freeman, Jr.  I enjoyed my conversation with him.  This week his latest novel, All That I Have was featured by Entertainment Weekly and received a good review.  Congratulations, Castle!

Right now I’m reading Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert.  This is definitely a different type of read for me and I’m looking forward to getting into it.  I’m reading this as part of the blog tour Sheri from A Novel Menagerie scheduled.  Look for my review and a giveaway on April 10th.

How was your week? Did you work in anything creative?

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