Have a safe New Year's Eve

Have a safe and very happy New Year! I'll be celebrating at home with my family. They're the people I'm happiest with and home is our favorite place to be so it's a win-win. I will make a nice dinner and we'll most likely watch a movie together.

Thank yo for visiting my blog in 2017. See you in 2018.

New crochet projects

Colors for a couple of new projects for 2018.

Goals

I am more of a goal-oriented person than a resolution setter. For me, setting a goal and breaking it down into parts to be achieved is a more comprehensible method than simply stating a resolution. I'm in the process of clarifying my goals for 2018 but there will certainly be writing and publishing goals, reading goals (I do this on GoodReads) and health and fitness goals. How about you? Do resolutions work for you or are goals better?

Endless possibilities

I find the ending of one year and the beginning of the next to be so rejuvenating. I'm not entirely sure why but I also know I'm not alone in this. Although, at the moment I'm really tired LOL. I am looking forward to 2018 with an open mind and heart. I hope that it will be a wonderfully positive year full of good health, happiness and steps forward for everyone. 

Wordless Wednesday: Ginger

Teaser Tuesday: Festive in Death by J.D. Robb

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Festive in Death by J.D. Robb:

"You've got a backup," she commented.

"Holidays. Some deck the halls, others opt to haunt them."

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this joyous holiday! I hope everyone has a peaceful and joyful day! Thank you for stopping in to visit through the year! It means a lot to me!

Christmas tree

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their family and friends!

Love Actually - The Love Theme suite

Pretty decorations

There are so many reasons to love this time of year. The decorations are definitely part of it for me!

A Christmas Story

I remember seeing this movie as a kid when it first came out. We loved it. I married a man who loves it and now our children love it! So it has become part of our annual tradition to watch this movie at least once and usually multiple times. This is the Christmas movie we are going to watch tonight. Which movies are family traditions for all of you?

Wordless Wednesday: Poinsettia tree

Teaser Tuesday: Holiday Buzz by Cleo Coyle

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Holiday Buzz by Cleo Coyle:

Beside the brightly lit ice rink, a lavish Christmas tree blazed with primary colors. Then, with no warning, the private park went suddenly dark. 

Homemade Christmas decoration

My daughter made this Christmas tree decoration and I LOVE it! The homemade decorations by my kids are my favorites!

The Polar Express

Flat braid joining technique

Patience

What an interesting and rather lovely quote. I hope it's true because I have been struggling with patience for the last couple of days. Actually, patience is something I've struggled with a lot of my life. I don't mean to be impatient and don't even want to be but as I said, it has been a struggle. 

The Last Jedi (music)

Wordless Wednesday - Turtle ornament

Teaser Tuesday: This Year It will be Different by Maeve Binchy

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from This Year It Will be Different by Maeve Binchy:

This year there was only Rebecca for Santa Claus. Rebecca was four, John and James and Orla were far too old. But you couldn't be too old for trees and lights and candles and a holly wreath for the the door.

Benjamin Franklin quote

Write

Christmas wreath

This fresh wreath smells delicious! It was a gift from friends of ours and we love it!

The Crown interview

Have you watched The Crown on Netflix? We watched the first season and LOVED it! We have been anxiously awaiting the second season and it is out today! As Doctor Who fans we assumed we'd love Matt Smith playing Prince Phillip and we have. Claire Foy was unknown to us but we have fallen in love with her as Queen Elizabeth 2! They are an extraordinary match to play the Royal couple in their younger years. 

To be honest, I don't know if the history is exact within the context of the show or not. I assume quite a bit of it must be or people would probably be having fits rather than giving the show critical acclaim. I do know that we love it and highly recommend it. I'm sad that Claire Foy and Matt Smith will move on from their roles after this season. However, I am curious as to whom will play Queen Elizabeth 2 and Prince Phillip next. Also, I wonder if Princess Margaret will be in future episodes. She is currently played splendidly by Vanessa Kirby. I assume if her role continues she'll be re-cast as well because there's supposed to be a significant time jump between seasons two and three. Oh well, for now we will immerse ourselves into season two and love it the entire time. 

Tree in Orange Circle

I saw this beautiful tree while out doing some errands this morning. I want to take my kids back at night and see if it's all lit up. There is so much to appreciate and enjoy at this time of year and the decorations every where are definitely part of that pleasure! At least they are for my family and I. 

Wordless Wednesday: Pretty tree topper

Teaser Tuesday: Holiday Wishes by Jill Shalvis

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Holiday Wishes by Jill Shalvis:

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I just got ordained online."

She blinked.

"To marry Finn and Pru," he said. "Now I'm writing the ceremony; or trying."

It's a Wonderful Life

Oh, how I love this movie! I'm showing this to my kids for the first time and we are all enjoying it together! 

Cool decorations

We wnet to a Christmas party this evening and the decorations (along with the company and the entire party) were wonderful! I particularly fell in love with the "floating" ornaments. I want to do this in my home! My husband said "Hmmmm, okay." LOL I'm not sure if that means he likes it or not or if he's just afraid I'll pull him into this project with me. Oh well, I'm going to try it and will post a picture when I do! 

Oh Christmas Tree...

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas lights

Teaser Tuesday: Snug in His Bed by Rhonda Nelson

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Better Naught Than Nice: Snug in His Bed by Rhonda Nelson:

"I'm sentencing you to forty hours of community service at Bailey's Tree Farm. That should put you more in a proper Christmas spirit." 

Don't give up

This is a reminder I need for myself this evening! 

White Christmas

My favorite Christmas movie! We watched it tonight and will definitely watch it again this season. It's so joyful and all of the dancing is wonderful - especially the tap! 

Christmas with the Kranks

Christmas With the Kranks is one of my family's favorite holiday movies. There are so many scenes in it that make us all laugh out loud. I also quite enjoyed the book by John Grisham which is called Skipping Christmas. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie I highly recommend both.

Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

One of my favorites! We heard it last night on the way home from celebrating Thanksgiving with family! My husband and kids know I love this song and actually they do, too. However, my kids started asking questions about the meaning and we explained to them the charitable reasons behind the song. We explained what the conditions were like in Africa in 1984 and the suffering that was (and still is in some ways) happening there. It made us all sad to think of the suffering but it also helped to know the there are good people - regular, everyday people and celebrities - who care and want to make a positive difference in this world. So a great song, turned into a history lesson and a great conversation as a family. It's something to definitely be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed and happy day! We had a wonderful day filled with family, laughter memories - old and now new - and even some swimming. It was HOT here today. 

Gratitude

Teaser Tuesday: Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis:

She needed the company of some living and breathing humans instead of just Cinder and her own fictional characters. She'd been hoping to find Kylie or Willa or even Elle. Which meant she must be desperate indeed.

Actually, she secretly wanted to run into Spence. 

Musing Monday: Series

 Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by The Purple Booker that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

This weeks random question: Do you like or dislike series?

Generally speaking I do like series of books. I enjoy "seeing" characters throughout the series and watching them as they grow. My favorite is the In Death series by J.D. Robb. Right now I am reading the fourth book in the Heartbreaker Bay series by Jill Shalvis. Another favorite is Fools Gold by Susan Mallery. She brought that series to an end and has a new one called Happily Inc. I haven't read any of those yet but will be starting it within the week. 

The 2017 Christmas Spirit Challenge and readathon

The following info is taken straight from the Seasons of Reading blog post:

 

We are once again kicking off the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge over at Christmas Spirit, with the annual Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon...and it's now two weeks long!

The Christmas Spirit Readathon has a twist this year! It's a Christmas and Scary Readathon. Personally, I read scary (horror) books all year round, but I know many people reserve that kind of reading to October. But that's just ONE month! So, I decided to create this twist to give people the excuse to read scary for at least a couple more weeks (if no more!).

What does this mean? Well, you can read Christmas, or you can read scary, or you can read both. For example, A Christmas Carol could also be labeled as scary/spooky because of the ghosts. Dickens also wrote other spooky Christmas tales (check his "Christmas Books"). However, don't think your scary has to have a Christmas theme. You can read non-holiday scary, or you can read a Christmas themed mystery (which can sometimes be scary), or you can choose all Christmas books. It's entirely up to you!

Details:

• Read-a-Thon dates: Monday, November 20 at 12:00am CDT until Sunday, December 3 at 11:59pm CDT (adjust your time zone accordingly...there's a time zone converter in the blog menu) 
• You do not have to be signed up for the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge to participate (but I sure would love for you to join us!) 
• I am not requiring that you read only Christmas/holiday books during the read-a-thon, but I hope you will pick up at least one holiday tale, even if it's just to read some children's books with your kids or some holiday short stories...and perhaps some scary fare...
• to check in on social media, we'll use hashtag #CSreadathon 
• as usual, you do not have to have a blog to participate...feel free to link up and check in from Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc. AND interact with us in our Facebook group.

I will be participating in this readathon and the Christmas Spirit reading challenge. I LOVE reading Christmas themed books - for myself and to my children - and look forward to it all year! So, if you'd like to join in the fun then please do so!

I will certainly be reading Chasing Christmas and Holiday Wishes both by Jill Shalvis. They are part of her Heartbreaker Bay series which I love. I will also read A Very Merry Princess by Susan Mallery. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is on our family reading list for the season along with favorites like The Polar Express (the book AND the movie!) and The Night Before Christmas. 

We will also listen to plenty of Christmas music and watch Christmas movies! As mentioned above we'll watch The Polar Express. I know for a fact we'll also watch Elf, Home Alone, White Christmas (my favorite!), Miracle on 34th Street. Also, my children will see It's A Wonderful Life for the first time. As you can see, we're huge fans of Christmas around here. LOL!

Last Christmas by Wham!

My kids LOVE this song. This morning while out running some errands this version played on the radio. My daughter was surprised by how much she liked it because the one she's more familiar with is the Taylor Swift version. I told her this is the original and that there is a video for it that I think she'd like. So, I'm putting this here to share with all of you but mostly to remind myself to shar it with my kids later this evening. 

'Tis the season

We had a tap dancing rehearsal this evening and it was followed by a potluck. My girls asked me make green bean casserole so I did. It was a hit and we didn't bring any home because it was gone! It's safe to say that we started Thanksgiving early tonight. :) I am grateful for my wonderful family and the extended family we have made through tap dance.

Stay positive

Wordless Wednesday: Stunning sunset

Teaser Tuesday: Midnight in Death by J.D. Robb

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from Midnight in Death by J.D. Robb:

She'd said he wasn't connected to this, and that she expected him to back away when Peabody was on duty again. But she was wrong. Her name on the list meant he was more involved than he'd ever been before. And no power on earth, not even that of the woman he loved, would cause him to back away. 

Monday motivation

It was a bit of a hectic and busy couple of days Friday and Saturday. So yesterday we slept-in then spent a relaxing day in our pajamas. We ate left overs, wrote a little bit, read a lot and watched Cars 3 (which is amazing, by the way) and just RESTED! As a result we are all doing well at the start of this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week, as well. 

Cars 3 - family movie

This is a great movie! I watched this tonight with my kids and a couple of their friends. 

NaNoWriMo write-in

We had a NaNoWriMo write-in this evening in our recreation room. It was small but also very nice and relaxing. It was also productive and we all got words written. One of the attendees reached the 25.000 word mark in his story so that was a lot of fun! I wouldn't mind hosting another write-in in there!

Happy Veterans Day

Crochet

I love this quote because it is so true! I'm in the process of crocheting blankets for my kids. They are designs and colors that they chose for themselves so I know they'll like them. Now, if I could just finish them in time for Christmas. Actually, I do think I'll be able to do it, though.

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn roses

If it's important...

Pretty sky

December Daily

I know, I know, it's only the beginning of November. However, I want to share this now in case anyone wants to participate. That way you'll have enough time to prepare. December Daily is a memory keeping, scrapbooking, journaling adventure that takes place in December. I discovered it last year but not in time to take part. I guess I could have but I wasn't prepared at all and adding something else to my to-do list felt stressful. This is meant to be fun and something to be made to enjoy now and for years to come. This is something I hope my kids will love now, in the future and always. In fact, I'm hoping my kids will take part in the memory keeping with me. Then share the tradition with their kids (my future grand kids - whoa!). 

Love more

I love this quote so much! I think it is always true but very much so in the world we live in now. 

NaNoWriMo 2017

National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo - 2017 is underway! I'm off to a good start and so are my children. For the first time my kids are writing stories through NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program. It has been wonderful to embark on story telling together! My kids are writing creepy stories while I am writing a love story. Each day they have shared their day's writing with me and then again with their dad when he gets home. We're only three days into NaNoWriMo 2017 but I can say, without a doubt, that this is my favorite year of doing this writing adventrue! I can't wait to see how all of our stories turn out!

Spooky moon

Wordless Wednesday: Creepy Halloween eyes

Teaser Tuesday: Secrets in Death by J.D. Robb

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from page 65 of Secrets in Death by J.D. Robb:

"He's one who believes your origins, who and what you come from, matter. Even if it's a contrast to what you choose to make of yourself."

Musing Monday: Currently reading

 Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by The Purple Booker that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

I'm still reading Secrets in Death by J.D. Robb. I really like the book but it's taking me a while to get through it because I have been so busy this past week. With Halloween tomorrow and NaNoWriMo beginning on Wednesday this week will be as busy - if not busier - than last. I will get further along in the book but I'm not sure how much. Still, as I said, I am enjoying the book. 

National Novel Writing Month

Wednesday is November 1st - which also marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month - or NaNoWriMo as it's also known! The premise of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word first draft of a new novel. It's fun and doable challenge especially if you're able to get out and meet other participants taking part in NaNoWriMo. This will be my ninth year participating. I love it!

This year I have extra reason to love NaNoWriMo as my children will be taking part for the first time. They will be participating through the Young Writers Program. They don't have to write 50,000 words, though. They set their own goals and work daily to meet them by the end of November.

There's still time to sign up if you're interested in giving NaNoWriMo a try!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Since it's Halloween on Tuesday it seems fitting to me that we have a Halloween movie weekend. Of course I know that Charlie Brown is television episodes but still - my kids love this one. I'm certain we'll also watch Hocus Pocus this weekend. I'd also like to watch Gremlins which I know isn't technically a Halloween movie but it always seems like it should be one to me. Then of course, on Tuesday there will be dressing up in costumes and trick or treating. It's all so much fun! What are your plans for the next few days as we lead up to All Hallows' Eve?

Come Undone by Duran Duran

In honor of today being Simon le Bon's birthday I'm posting one of my favorite Duran Duran songs - and the video. 

The Pier

One of my favorite places!