Sunday Crafting

It was a rainy day here in Southern California. You can't see me but I am grinning hugely over this fact! For one thing, we NEED the rain so bad! Secondly, it was so nice to hang out with my kids, in our pajamas. We watched a little television, we read and we did some Christmas crafting. We are very excited because we LOVE this time of year so much! My kids always make a red and green paper garland to decorate and count down to Christmas with. I had fun helping them with this but I also crocheted some Christmas decorations. Then we went this evening to a Christmas tree lighting and sang some carols. It was a fabulous way to spend the last Sunday of November!

A Favorite by Duran Duran

Celebration

The day after Thanksgiving and it has felt very much like a continued celebration. We had family and lifelong friends over. It was wonderful to spend more time with those we love and admire so much. It feels like extra blessings. I hope all of you have enjoyed your Friday - whether you're here in the United States or elsewhere in the world.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of those in the United States. And to everyone blessing and happiness always. Enjoy your weekend, where ever you are.

Josh Turner: Lay Low Video (official)

 

I get absolutely noting for sharing this video and/or song. I am simply sharing something that I think is beautiful!

Teaser Tuesday's: Mean Streak by Sandra Brown (#2)

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. 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 310 of Sandra Brown's Mean Streak:

"Did she seem all right to you? After the bombshell you just dropped, would you expect her to be all right?"

Josh Turner: Lay Low - Behind the Scenes

 

I LOVE this song and can't wait to see the video tomorrow!

Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon

 

This read-a-thon starts tomorrow - which is in about twenty minutes my time. Actually, I think that the Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon has technically already begun as it goes by CST. Anyway, I'm excited to get going with it. This is a one week event. I'm going to finish up Mean Streak by Sandra Brown and then jump into my Christmas books with A Cowboy Under My Christmas Tree by Janet Dailey. After that I will read Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright.

Thankful for Vacation

I have to say that my family is very much in need of a vacation. My kids are off of school for a week in celebration of Thanksgiving. My husband has a short work week coming up. I am so happy and so thankful for both of these things. For one thing, I love, love, LOVE when we all get to spend unhurried and relaxing time together. It feels like so much of our time is spent rushing from one thing that we need to do to another. So, we have some vacation together this week and we are not going anywhere. Well, we are going house and family hopping on Thanksgiving but other than that we are having a vacation at home. There will be no homework, no rehearsals, no long term school projects to work on.

What we will do this week (other than Thanksgiving, of course) is relax, read, go to the park, see some friends and quite likely watch some movies together. And, most exciting of all (at least to the kids and I) is that we will decorate for Christmas! In fact, if all goes well we will begin this fun activity in just a few short hours.

Do you have plans for this coming week that you are looking forward to?

A National Novel Writing Month Update

This morning I validated my NaNoWriMo novel and ‘won’. I put won in quotes because on their site and for the challenge winning means writing fifty thousand words during the month of November. In my personal opinion any amount of writing that someone does is a win. I love NaNoWriMo and according to their rules, I won this morning with slightly over seventy-seven thousand words. Of course, I will continue on with my daily writing and during November I will add it to my total on the NaNoWriMo site. There’s no reason for it any longer but I like to do this during November.

The funny thing is when I was done validating my novel this morning I was nowhere near my personal daily writing goal. I had several moments of complete blank. What was I going to write now? It’s not that I don’t have ideas for books. I do but I’m not ready to write them yet. I feel that it needs to be the right time to write some books. And the stories I have made notes for I am not ready to tell. So I was left sitting in front of my computer having a minor freak out. I didn’t want to sit her looking at a blank page and melting down, though. What did I do then? I organized my desk a little bit. I went on Twitter. I checked my e-mail. I read some of the book I am currently enjoying. Then I spent a little time with my husband and we went to get our kids from school. Then we went as a family to see his mom and had dinner. I even did laundry when we got home this evening. I know, it all sounds so normal. Right? The thing is – this is exactly what I needed to do. I needed to take a break and walk away from the computer and focus on my family and get a few mundane chores done. And guess what? I have a new story idea that I am ready to tell now. In fact, I have already written the beginning of it. Now I will settle my very tired and slightly cranky children. Then I’ll come back and write in the fresh and shiny story a little more tonight.

How about you? Are you participating in National Novel Writing Month? How is it going for you? What do you do when face with a blank page and the horror of not knowing what to fill that page with?

Charli XCX (featuring Simon le Bon) Kingdom

 

This song is all right. I wanted to hear it because it has Simon le Bon from Duran Duran in it. Of course, I think he sounds amazing but he's not in the song near as much as I'd like. Oh well, enjoy all the same.

Wordless Wednesday: More Colorful Crochet

Teaser Tuesday's: Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

Teaser Tuesday's is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. 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 59 OF Sandra Brown's Mean Streak:

"I hike. Gorgeous scenery up here. Sometimes I camp, but I prefer my bed to a sleeping bag on the ground."

The Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon

The Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon begins next week on November 24^th. It runs until November 30^th, so one full week. I am excited to participate. Since it is a week-long read-a-thon that means it should be peaceful and fairly laid back. And most of all, FUN! So, what are the details of the Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon? In a nutshell, read. It is not required that you read Christmas or holiday themed books but it would be nice to read at least one, even if it is simply a children’s book – probably with your kids.

If you’d like to check in during the week on Twitter, the hashtag is #CSreadathon. Also, it is not necessary to have a blog in order to participate. You can check in via GoodReads, Twitter or Facebook.

For more information and to sign up for the Christmas Spirit Read-a-Thon visit Seasonsof Reading. And don’t forget, have FUN with your reading. I know I will as I will be diving into my Christmas books – for myself and with my kids.

The 5th Annual Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

I do not know what the heck was up with my blog yesterday but I am glad it is fixed today. I have to tell you about something I am so excited about! The 5th Annual Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge! It takes place at The Christmas Spirit from November 24, 2014 through January 6, 2015. As a little side note here - 2015 feels and looks really odd to me. Anyway, the challenge is so much fun and I really look forward to participating in it each year! It's fun, it's easy and there are multiple levels for participation. For example, read so many books, watch Christmas/Holiday movies and there is even a level for reading Christmas children's books this year! As a mom of two young children this is right up my alley! I'm even going to do an Advent calendar that relates to kids Christmas books. That's another post for another day, though.

My participation levels will be (I grabbed these straight from The Christmas Spirit blog):

  --Christmas Tree:  read 5 or 6 books (this is the fanatic level...LOL!) Yes, I am a Christmas book fanatic! I want to read Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright for sure. I will also read A Cowboy Under My Christmas Tree. Others that I will read will depend on what's available at the library or on sale at Barnes and Noble.

--Fa La La La Films:  watch a bunch or a few Christmas movies...it's up to you! My family LOVES Christmas movies. I know for sure that we will watch White Christmas (this one is my favorite!), Home Alone (my kids LOVE this one so much and laugh their heads off every single time they see it), Elf (we all, including my husband, can watch this one over and over and over again), The Polar Express (another amazing movie we all love. It's not just 'I believe' in our house - it's WE believe!) and A Christmas Story (another family favorite. 'You'll shoot your eye out kid). I know there are more but these are the first ones I always think of for the reasons stated.

--Visions of Sugar Plums:  read books with your children this season and share what you read: I am so excited about the addition of this level for this year! My kids are bookworms just like me! We LOVE going to the library and loading up on books all year but there is something so extra special about getting Christmas books and then sitting around and reading them together. We love The Polar Express, Olivia Helps with Christmas, Angelina's Christmas and Pinkalicious Christmas to name a few.

Come and join this super fun challenge if you wish. It just adds to the fun and togetherness of this time of year.