Clubbing (BTT)

A combo of two suggestions by: Heidi and by litlove

Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (ot, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?

Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

Yes, I've been a member of a book club. Our motto..."It's all about the food." That should probably tell you about how in depth we go into discussing our books. It didn't start out that way. I promise. No matter how good our intentions were, it always came back to the food (having a lot of it--and it being sooo good!). We all teach together so naturally this was also a time for us to socialize since we didn't have time at work. So our book club morphed into eat and socialize together. Whoever is hosting the next book club gets to pick the book and we basically talk about if we liked it or not. Nothing major or in depth. Very casual. It works for us. I like having other people pick books as it gives me a chance to read books I normally wouldn't pick up for myself. We meet every 3 months or so. This also relieves the pressure of having to finish up a certain book by a certain date. One of us might buy it and pass it around or it gives us time to get it from the library.

I've often wondered what a more "formal" book club would be like. I'm looking forward to reading some other posts.

Friday Fill In

1. Idle hands are probably earning a much needed rest.

2. I love turning on the cold water on a hot day in the shower.

3. My favorite time of the day is when you slip right under the covers and your head first touches the pillow and your body just relaxes.

4. The last tea I drank was hot?

5. I like to travel in the Summer.

6. My mother always said that if I kept making that face it was going to freeze that way.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to hiding from the humidity, tomorrow my plans include finally starting my garden and Sunday, I want to visit my friend!

Books Vs. Movies (BTT)

Suggested by: Superfastreader:

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

The first word that came to my mind was escape. I often find myself escaping in books. I don't find that to be true with movies. They are both entertaining but there is just something about a book that I can escape with. I guess with a book you run your own show, you can stop and start when you want, think over things, go back and reread. With a movie, it is meant to be watched in one sitting. No going back, stopping and thinking. You're forced to experience it as it was set forth by the producer/director etc. With a book you have more room to move in your mind. Your imagination can run wild.

I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

Friday Fill in

1. There is absolutely NO way you can get me to to go anywhere near a needle unless I am in some type of drug induced haze!

2. The fact that there are only 19 days until i have no students reminds me that summer is almost here!

3. I cannot live without my my husband or chapstick (it was a tie).

4. Learning a foreign langueage and do some type of relief work in Africa are two things I'd like to try.

5. When life hands you lemons use them to fill a vase, or wash your hands with them or anything but that saying. I've never liked it.

6. Winning the high school softball championship and finishing second in the state is my favorite childhood memory. (Is that too old???)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to running around like an idioit (don't we all have nights like those), tomorrow my plans include a garage sale and another baby shower and Sunday, I want to watch the Pens finish the Flyers!!!!

Click here to see more Friday Fill Ins!

Manual Labor Redux (BTT)

Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….

Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?

Do you ever read manuals?

How-to books?

Self-help guides?

Anything at all?

I'll admit it...I read the manual. I've just seen my sister and husband break too many things or goof them up by simply not reading the directions. Its so simple. It tells you how to do it. You just start at the beginning and go step by step. That is why they are included. It just seems easier to follow them to then to guess at how to do it or do it wrong.

Have any of you ever put together furniture from IKEA? Now THAT is an adventure!!!!! Those little funny Swedish (I think) cartoon people and no words! That is the best.

How-to books & Self-help guides? I think we have probably all purchased a few with good intentions, myself included. I've never really seemed to get into them though and they sit on my shelf and then end up getting posted on paperbackswap. Boy do I envy the person who said her problems were simple enough that peanut M&M's could solve them. I wish my problems were so simple that M&Ms could solve them! Maybe I'm not buying the right books. lol ; )

I'm not sure why but lately I've found it annoying when companys don't include their manuals and tell you to "go online" to download it. I know it saves paper and storage space but it really is a hassle for me. It seems more difficult than actually having it in your hand for some reason. I think I have a harder time finding the actual sections that I want. They almost seem to be organized differently than the paper manuals.

Friday Fill in

1. The sandwiches at Chic Filet had an extra secret ingredient; it was some type of drug I'm sure....they are SO good.!

2. You can see right through my window. (because we still haven't hung curtains since we moved in September)

3. Right now, I need to take a shower.

4. Babies R Us is where I went Thursday night; it was scary...seriously, have your every really "looked" around there?

5. Why does betrayal hurt so much?

6. All I can think of is the way a massage would feel right now.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching the Pens and Flyers game, tomorrow my plans include a baby shower and Sunday, I want to spend time with my husband!

Manual Labor (BTT)

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

Nope. Should I? Probably. I actually do NOT enjoy writing. It never came very easily for me. I tend to avoid things I am not naturally good at. My blog is actually somewhat of a personal challenge for me to just write. The only way to get better at something is to practice. I get intimidated a lot reading some of your posts. Those of you who are GOOD writers make me feel like I'm in fifth grade blundering around trying to write. I get my point across though, and for me that is OK most of the time.

I still have a grammar book from my high school AP English class. Geez, that thing is 15 years old! Do those rules still apply??

I enjoy writing in my blog even if everything is not perfect. I do try to get everything "right" as often as I can.

Friday Fill in

1. Two of my favorite ingredients in a drink are ice & lemon!

2. How much my animals love me often amazes me.

3. You can keep doing that forever, the dog is on the look out for squirrels.

4. Me, hubbby, a dog and two cats mix it all together and voila! You have our small family.

5. If I had a yard with a garden, I would love to grow tomatoes and basil to make bruschetta. I will be growing those this year!

6. The face is best au naturel.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to cleaning our bedroom and reading (with my foot--not so simple), tomorrow my plans include starting some simple gardening around our house and Sunday, I want to watch the Pens finish off the Rangers!

Mayday! (BTT)

Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??

And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….

I'm going to assume that I find out that nothing is seriously wrong and now I can relax at the airport and kill time. If not, I would probably sit and worry. I am a worrier. But now, with a little freedom....

Trash...I would buy trash. Some fashion magazine I would normally never buy myself and some junk food. Probably candy. I would act like I was 17 again and just browse through the magazine and eat junk. Then I would probably try to swap my magazine with someone else who is done with theirs.

Then I would probably buy a paperback. Something mainstream I had been keeping my eye on but putting off for one reason or another. Something light. I would be excited because I love buying books, but then probably annoyed since I had to buy one.

Did I have my iPod in my purse? It didn't say. But if I did I would probably listen to my audiobook and play solitaire as long as my battery lasted.

Happy Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday

Thursday Thirteen

This week Thursday Thirteen has a theme: vacations. List and write about 13 places you have vacationed. For now, a list will have to do!

1. China (Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao)


2. Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples)


3. Toronto


4. San Francisco


5. Phoenix


6. Las Vegas


7. Grand Canyon


8. Geneva on the Lake (Ohio)


9. New York City


10. Ohiopyle (PA)


11. Okracoke


12. Presque Isle (Erie, PA)


13. Playa Del Carmen (Mexico)

Springing (BTT)

Well, here where I live, Spring is sprung–weeks early, even. Our lilac bush looks like it will have flowers by this time next week instead of in the middle May as usual. The dogwood trees, the magnolia trees–all the flowering trees are flowering. The daffodils and crocuses are, if anything, starting to fade. It may only be April 24th but it is very definitely Spring and, allergies notwithstanding, I’m happy to welcome the change of season. What I want to know, is:

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?

Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

I must admit, I did just buy a gardening book. BUT, I won't be sitting down to read it from cover to cover. It is more reference material then anything else. Now that we own a house I decided I better learn what that heck to do with everything outside it.

As soon as the weather gets nice my reading time goes down as my hubby and I do "outdoor" things. We get such "cabin fever" from being cooped up all winter that if we can be outside we get out. I do enjoy reading outside so a lot of my outside time IS reading time.

I don't change what I read or what format it is in. I pick what I'm in the mood for or what is up on one of my challenges. I am logical about it though. I don't take the 700 page hardback on the plane with me, I take a paperback.

This post is making me look at House of the Spirits and how long it is taking me to read it. I think instead of blogging I'm going to read some of it now.

Happy Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

Camera Critters

Hello Camera Critter Friends!

This week my picture is the one I used for the entry in a Spring Theme photocontest. This is best picture I've taken of Otis in A LONG TIME. He is smiling and is filled with such joy at finally being able to run around outside in the nice weather that I just had to use it again for everyone to see again today.

If you would like to vote for Otis (PRETTY PLEASE) you can go here to vote. The voting is open until tomorrow. We keep losing to a field of bluebonnet flowers. ;) I though my friends at CAMERA CRITTERS might help me out with some voting since every one there (here) loves animals!!!!

Friday Fill in

1. The last time I lost my temper I hit the door with my crutches and yelled a lot !

2. Guess! My broken foot and my crutches are what I'm fed up with!

3. The next book I'd like to read is ooh, oooh I guess Bel Canto.

4. Summer vacation is what I'm looking forward to.

5. If you can't get rid of the skeleton[s] in your closet, hide them!

6. The best thing I got in the mail recently was my new mail box and house numbers.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to my parents house (they are playing nurse), tomorrow my plans include helping my mom make an album of her vacation pictures and Sunday, I want to not dread going back to work for the first time in over six weeks, but I know I'll dread it!

Thursday Thirteen

13 Vegetables That Were Much Better to Throw Across the Table at My Sister Than Acutally Eat!

1. Lima Beans (excellent flicking potential)
2. Brussel Sprouts
3. Green Beans
4. Baby Carrots
5. Beets
6. Mushrooms
7. Broccoli
8. Cauliflower
9. Mixed vegetables (by the spoonful)
10. Eggplant
11. radishes if they were in my salad
12. Onions if they were in anything else
13. I would have thrown spinach if it wouldn't have been so squishy (so i just hid it in my pocket instead)

Can you tell I wasn't a big fan of vegetables?

Vocabulary (BTT)

Suggested by Nithin:

I’ve always wondered what other people do when they come across a word/phrase that they’ve never heard before. I mean, do they jot it down on paper so they can look it up later, or do they stop reading to look it up on the dictionary/google it or do they just continue reading and forget about the word?

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I usually just blow right by it. I usually can figure it out based on context clues from the sentence or the sentences that came before or after but I'm just a little too "unmotivated" to actually go hunting for it. The exception would be a "cool" sounding word. Wish I had an example of one of those right now but I don't. Not very teacher like of me. Of course the exception is when I am reading something for teaching when it would be pretty bad if I had no idea what Iwas talking about. I always look everything up then.

My "favorite" is when a kid plagiarizes a paper and uses words I've never heard of before. I'll tell them that I have a Masters and I've been teaching for 10 years and have never heard of word X before and I'd love it if they could explain it to me and how they understood it enough to use it in their paper. This is usually where tears starts and I get the confession. Our kids seem to think "cutting and pasting" from Google is OK. (OK--i'm getting off topic)

Happy Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

Honeymoon--2005 (Riviera Maya) Used for our Christmas Card Photo that year. Huge hit!

Ten On Tuesday

10 Favorite Movie Comedies

In no particular order

1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. Austin Powers
3. Christmas Vacation
4. Napoleon Dynamite
5. Sixteen Candles
6. The Wedding Singer
7. The Christmas Story
8. Death at a Funeral
9. Superbad
10. Hot Fuzz

Camera Critters

"Well, what else were we supposed to do after Mommy comes home with her broken foot? We surrounded her with love of course!"

From left to right: Emmy, Max & Otis.

This was taken by my hubby right after I got back from the orthopedic surgeon after he gave me the boot and the Vicodin. Aren't animals wonderful?!?!