First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 222019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Class Mom

Class Mom by Laurie Gelman

1
I click Send on my laptop, sit back in my chair, and grimace. “Well, that should give them something to think about,” I say to absolutely no one.

Rubbing my tired eyes, I wonder for the fiftieth time that day why I ever agreed to be a class mom again. My first instinct had been the right one.

 

Sunday Reflections: 4/21/19

 Sunday Reflections
Apr 212019
 

 

Sunday Reflections

Outside…
It’s a cool 55° and the high is supposed to be 77°. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue with only a few fluffy clouds here and there. No sounds except for a few chickens talking back and forth.

Thankful…
To Tina for the Boz Scaggs ticket. The concert was really good and my daughter and I had a great time. Brought back a lot of memories of my younger years. My daughter was familiar with him and loved some of his songs so she enjoyed herself too. She was the youngest person there that we saw other than one man who was about her age lol!

I told you last week that we planned on going to the Sugarsand Festival the day after the concert. Well, we tried. There was 100% chance of rain that was predicted to start around 1pm. We got there at 11:00 and as soon as we reached the sand it started raining and lightening and the wind picked up so much that it was hard for me to not be blown over. My weather app said there were tornado watches out for the area and it sure did look like it was possible. My daughter and I hooked arms and finally made our way back to the car. We were both dripping from the rain and our shoes were covered with wet sand. Mine had filled up with sand too. I was so sad to be so close and still not see the sculptures, but we’re going to try and go back on the 28th, which is the last day.

Reading…
Still reading (slowly) Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood

 The Wonder of Lost Causes by Nick Trout for a May 14th TLC Book Tours review

Listening To…
I have 2 hrs. left of I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán

Watching…
Tina posted yesterday about the movie The Dish and it sounds really good so I’ll me watching it tonight if I can find it.

Mind Body Spirit…
I put some Icy Hot on the back of my knee and it stopped hurting almost immediately and didn’t hurt again until today so I need to put more on it. I’m eating a lot less carbs and signed up for emeals to help me with finding recipes that suit my needs better. My DIL uses it and loves it so I thought I’d give it a try.

 The Kitchen…
Slowly getting everything where I want it to make it more efficient.

New To Me Stuff:
Smucker’s Sugar Free Syrup which I had for the first time Friday when my daughter and I stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast. We both got 2 wheat pancakes and we asked for sugar free syrup and that’s what they brought us. It was so good that I came home and put a bottle in my Amazon Prime cart. I rarely eat pancakes (it’s been years since I had any) but we saw them on the menu and they looked so good. I also added a wheat pancake mix to the cart that has only 6 carbs for each pancake.

Today’s To Do List…
Going to spend some time with family, see a movie and who knows what else

Looking forward to…
Hopefully actually getting to see the sculptures next Sunday at the Sugarsand Festival

A Favorite Bible Verse…
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

From the camera…

From the parking lot at the Sugarsand Festival

It’s raining hard and that’s why the photo is blurry

Audiobook Review:
Melinda And The Wild West by Linda Weaver Clarke

 audiobooks, books read in 2019
Apr 182019
 

Melinda and the Wild West: The Award Winning Original Version

Melinda And The Wild West by Linda Weaver Clarke
A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho #1
Narrated by Carolyn Kashner

In 1896 Melinda Gamble a very elegant, very naïve young woman from Boston decides to give up her life of monotonous comfort for the turbulent uncertainty of the still untamed Wild West. Driven by her intense desire to make a difference in the world, Melinda takes a job as a schoolteacher in the small town of Paris, Idaho, where she comes face-to-face with a frightening bank robber, a vicious grizzly bear, and an intense blizzard that leaves her clinging to her life. But it is a ruggedly handsome and very mysterious stranger who challenges Melinda with the one thing for which she was least prepared love.

Thoughts
I usually don’t read books set in this time period but I’m a fan of this author so when she offered a copy for a reveiw, I decided to listen to it. It’s the first in this series, and I loved it.

The story is about Melinda, who moves to Idaho (to become a teacher) which is nothing like her home in Boston. She encounters all kinds of hardships and is a bit out of her element, but she conquers her fears and begins to feel like this is the life she is meant to live.

There is adventure, scary moments, excitement, and love. Melinda has a student named Jenny whose mother died years ago. She was well taken care of by her father but her previous teacher and her fellow students mistreated her.  Melinda changes that.

The narration was great. I really enjoyed this book and will start the 2nd book in the series soon.

Thanks to the author for this review book!

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 152019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood

Introduction

I grew up eating. A lot. As the great food writer M.F.K. Fisher said, “First we eat, then we do everything else.” That describes my childhood home. In my mind, my Italian grandmother, Mama Rose, was always cooking. We lived with her in the house she moved to with her parents when they came from Conca Della Compainia, a small mountanous town an hour and a world away from Naples, Italy, to West Warwick, Rhode Island. When I was young, Mama Rose and her mother, Nonna, kept an enormous garden in the backyard, and they would sit on summer afternoons and snap the end off string beans (served cold with garlic and mint), press tomatoes into sauce, pickle read and green peppers for the Christmas antipasto. We had fruit trees, Seckel pear, cherry, apple, fig and blueberry and raspberry bushes. They raised rabbits and chickens, too. More than once a beloved white bunny- Snowball, Snowflake, Snowy- disappeared from it’s cage only for us to have funny-tasting “chicken” that night at dinner.

Sunday Reflections: 4/14/19

 Sunday Reflections
Apr 142019
 

Sunday Reflections

Outside…
I’m late writing this post up because I worked this morning, it’s 3:00 now and the temp. is 90° and not expected to get much hotter. It does seem hotter than 90° though. I’m missing the colder weather.

Thankful…
As I said in my post last week, my daughter started feeling a little better,  but then she started getting worse and worse, so she went back to her dr. Monday morning. The dr. immediately called an ambulance to take her to the hospital because her infection had spread.  They filled her up with antibotic  IV’s and pills and she started feeling a little better. She was released after a few days and is continuing to get better. Still a ways to go but things are much better than they were.

Reading… 
Still reading (slowly) Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood.

Listening To…
I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán.

Watching…
Some new to me shows, a few documentaries, and HGTV.

Mind Body Spirit…
My most steps for a day last week was 13, 358. I’m eating a lot less carbs, drinking water, decaf coffee with vanilla caramel creamer, and once in a while a no caffeine sugar free pop.

In The Kitchen…
Tonight my son wants Pizza Eggs since we have some left over pizza. It’s a recipe my daughter in law told me about a few months ago. She saw it via a couple whom she follows on YouTube that does theme park videos. Here is a recipe, but she doesn’t make it that way. She cuts up the whole pizza slices crust and all, warms in a skillet and then scrambles some eggs in it, mixing it all up. It doesn’t sound too great but it’s really good.

New To Me Stuff:
Last night we went to a Mexican restaurant and my daughter in law ordered a Mexican drink called Horchata. I had never tried it, in fact I had never heard of it because I usually order my regular drink and have never even looked at the drinks on a Mexican menu. She told me it was rice water with cinnamon and told me to try it. It was so good! I’ll be ordering it from time to time. Have you tried it? If so, do you like it?

Today’s To Do List…
My youngest son and my daughter in law (oldest son’s wife) went to IKEA yesterday and I bought a few thing for my bedroom so I spent some time deciding where to put it, then I started a load of towels which I still have to put in the dryer and then wash some work clothes. I also plan on watching some tv and maybe read a bit.

Looking forward to…
Thursday my daughter and I are going to a Boz Scaggs concert in Sarrasota (thank you Tina) and then we’re  staying the night atSt. Pete beach. When we wake up Friday morning we’ll be spending some time walking the beach, and then going to the Sugarsand Festival in Clearwater. We are so excited!

A Favorite Bible Verse…

From the camera…

Audiobook Review:
Always by Sarah Jio

 audiobooks, books read in 2019
Apr 122019
 

Audiobook Image

Always by Sarah Jio
Narrated by Brittany Pressley

Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 8 hours and 52 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Random House Audio
Audible.com Release Date: February 7, 2017
Language: English, English
ASIN: B01MT8Z7YV

While enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with her fiance, Ryan, at one of Seattle’s chicest restaurants, Kailey Crane can’t believe her good fortune: She has a great job as a writer for the Herald and is now engaged to a guy who is perfect in nearly every way. As they leave the restaurant, Kailey spies a thin, bearded homeless man on the sidewalk. She approaches him to offer up her bag of leftovers, and is stunned when their eyes meet, then stricken to her very core: The man is the love of her life, Cade McAllister.

When Kailey met Cade ten years ago, their attraction was immediate and intense everything connected and felt “right.” But it all ended suddenly, leaving Kailey devastated. Now the poor soul on the street is a faded version of her former beloved: His weathered and weary face is as handsome as Kailey remembers, but his mind has suffered in the intervening years. Over the next few weeks, Kailey helps Cade begin to piece his life together, something she initially keeps from Ryan. As she revisits her long-ago relationship, Kailey realizes that she must decide exactly what and whom she wants.

Alternating between the past and the present, Always is a beautifully unfolding exploration of a woman faced with an impossible choice, a woman who discovers what she’s willing to save and what she will sacrifice for true love.

Thoughts
This book was wonderful! The story started with a twist and kept the excitement going until the end. I liked all the characters. One of them started out on my “dont like” list but by the end of the book he was taken off and joined the others. I had his character all wrong.

The story seemed so real and I loved seeing what was going to happen between the characters next. I loved the ending, it was what I was hoping for.

The narration was great, Brittany’s voice made it an easy listen.

A small amount of the reviews for this book were negative, but l am among those who loved it and it will probably be going on my top 10 books of 2019 list.

Wondrous Words Wednesday

 wondrous words
Apr 102019
 

Hosted @ Bermudaonion’s Weblog

I get the Merriam-Webster Word Of The Day sent to my email and this was the word for yesterday.

Handsel
noun | HAN-sul

Definition
1 : a gift made as a token of good wishes or luck especially at the beginning of a new year

2 : something received first (as in a day of trading) and taken to be a token of good luck

3 a : a first installment

b : a token or sample of what is to come : earnest, foretaste

According to an old custom in the British Isles, the first Monday of the New Year is Handsel Monday, a day to give a small gift or good luck charm to children or to those who have served you well. As long ago as the 13th century, English speakers were using the ancestor of handsel in the context of omens and luck, eventually leading to the meaning of a good luck charm given to one at the start of some new situation or condition. By the 18th century, traders were using handsel for the first cash they earned in the morning—to them, an omen of good things to follow. Nowadays, it can also be used for something that gives a taste of things to come.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 082019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

I'm Fine and Neither Are You

I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán

ONE

Mistakes were made. The first wasn’t even something I did; it was only a germ of an idea, fleeting but infectious. I had just sat on the toilet and was mulling over the day’s to-dos and why-didn’t-Is when a single thought shot past all the rest: I want out.

Sunday Reflections: 4/7/19

 Sunday Reflections
Apr 072019
 

Sunday Reflections

Outside…
I live in the city limits of a small town and we have chickens that run around freely. Right now one of them (yes, hens can crow too) is letting us know it’s time to wake up. It’s 67° right now, supposed to get up to 90°, and no rain is expected.

Thankful…
That my daughter is feeling much better, she had a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic.

Reading…
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood. Picking it up Tuesday.

Listening To…
Fat Chance by Nick Spalding

Watching…
I had never watched The Good Doctor so last night I decided to watch the  pilot episode and it was really good so I watched the first 3 episodes and will watch the rest to get caught up.

Mind Body Spirit…
I found a meditation app called Insight Timer that I really like.

In The Kitchen…
Not sure what today’s menu is, but a few Keto recipes throughout the week.

New To Me Stuff:
I was at WM one day and saw a discount cart so I wondered over and took a look to check it out. I saw something I have never seen before and it kinda grossed me out. There were two boxes of coffee. Mushroom Coffee. Yes, mushroom coffee, the brand was Four Sigmatic.  What? Have you ever heard of this before? No, I did not buy them. Yuck!

 To Do List…
I got my car washed a few days ago but the only thing I did inside it was vacuumn, so today I plan on cleaning the inside. I also have laundry to do and need to shampoo the rug in my bedroom. Then I plan on watching a documentary and read.

A Favorite Bible Verse…
Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.

From the camera…

Audiobook Review:
Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens

 audiobooks, books read in 2019
Apr 052019
 

Never Let You Go

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens
Narrated by Rachel Fulginiti

Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 11 hours and 56 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Audible.com Release Date: March 14, 2017

Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail and Lindsey started over with a new life.

Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it’s her ex-husband, even though he claims he’s a different person. But has he really changed? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought?

Thoughts
I loved the authors first three books (5* ratings for me) and when I saw this one I thought it sounded really good so got the audio.

While I did enjoy the book, it just didn’t grab me like the other 3 Stevens books that I’ve read. The story was good, the characters good, the narration good, but something was lacking. It just wasn’t as  white knuckle as the others. It had some suspense, but it was much tamer in this story. Still, I did enjoy it so I’d give it a 4*.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer
by Fredrik Backman

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Apr 012019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

by Fredrik Backman

There’s a hospital room at the end of a life where someone, right in the middle of the floor, has pitched a green tent. A person wakes up inside it, breathless and afraid, not knowing where he is. A young man sitting next to him whispers:  “Don’t be scared.”

Sunday Reflections: 3/31/19

 Sunday Reflections
Mar 312019
 

Sunday Reflections

Outside…
81° and a sky full of big fluffy clouds. There’s a slight breeze but it feels hotter than 81°

Thankful…
For having tomorrow off so I can go through more of my kitchen stuff. Before we moved I had a huge kitchen and dining room with a lot of cabinets and drawers and a big panrty. Now my kitchen is a lot smaller so I’m deciding what I want to keep in the kitchen and what can stay in boxes in the garage until my son builds me a pantry off the kitchen.

Reading…
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman which is waiting for me at the library.  Unfortunately it’s closed on Sun. & Mon. so I’ll pick it up on Tuesday.

Listening To…
Getting ready to start What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami.

Watching…
I’ve been on a documentary kick lately and tomorrow I plan on watching The Far Green Country.

Mind Body Spirit…
Need more sleep, need to drink more water, need to go to the beach.

In The Kitchen…
Tonight I’m making pork chops, mashed potatoes & corn, and pork stuffing.

New To Me Stuff:
I tried some Japanese candy that a friend at work gave me and it was really good, it tasted like Guava.

Looking forward to…
Next weekend because I have Friday, Saturday, & Sunday off.

A Favorite Bible Verse…
1 Corinthians 16:14 
Let all that you do be done in love.

From the camera…
Tina, this is my countertop. You can’t see them but there are bits of sparkles in it. The name is Luna Pearl.

Audiobook Review:
I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

 audiobooks, books read in 2019
Mar 282019
 

I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll
Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden

Listening Length: 8 hours and 24 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Audible.com Release Date: October 1, 2017
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B074TTKX3C

What would it take to make you intervene?

When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls—beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard—has disappeared.

A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters—letters that make her fear for her life.

Then an anniversary appeal reveals that Anna’s friends and family might have something to hide. Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night—and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own.

Someone knows where Anna is—and they’re not telling. But they are watching Ella.

Thoughts
This was a good book and it kept me listening to find out what happened to Anna. The author did a good job of making a few of the characters seem like they could be the quilty one so it was hard to figure out who actually did it. When I thought I had it all figured out, I found out I was wrong. It ended up being one of the characters I had never even suspected.

The book switches back and forth with a few different POV’s and I liked that aspect of it. The story takes place in England which I didn’t know until I started listening. The narrator did a great job.

The book is full of suspicions, regret, guilt, fear.  And finally, closure.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
The Lost Husband by Katherine Center

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Mar 252019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

The Lost Husband by Katherine Center

My husband had been dead for three years before I started trying to contact him.

By then, our house was long sold, his suits were donated, and his wedding ring was in a safe-deposit box. All I kept with me was a shoebox full of meaningless stuff: a button from a shirt, an old grocery list, his driver’s license, his car keys, a doodle he’d drawn on a Post-It. That was everything of Danny’s I’d held on to: a box of junk.

That, and, of, course, his children.

Sunday Reflections: 3/24/19

 Sunday Reflections
Mar 242019
 

Sunday Reflections

Outside…
77° right now and the low tonight is expected to be 51°. The last week or so has been colder than it should be for this time of year but I guess the weather is off everywhere. It is warm during the day, but I can’t wait the nights to be warmer.

Reading…
I plan on reading Inside Tornadoes (Inside Series) by Mary Kay Carson later today. I’ve been watching some documentaries and one of them was about tornadoes. Even though this is a children’s book I think I’ll like it.

Listening To…
The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey which is not a genre I usually read but I’m really enjoying it.

Watching…
A few days ago I read a blog post by Paula and she said she watched the true crime documentary Abducted In Plain Sight. She said people warned her that she’d be saying “what the hell” a lot and that they were right. Since I love true crime, I watched it. I couldn’t believe those people! Over and over they kept doing and saying things that had me shaking my head and saying “are you kidding me?, what the heck were they thinking?, or what’s the matter with them?” Unreal!

Mind Body Spirit… 
I’m getting a lot of steps and working out almost every day. For some reason my sleep pattern is out of whack so that I’ve been getting really sleepy in the afternoon and then not sleepy at all when I need to be going to sleep. Thankfully I’m used to just sleeping a few hours at a time because of taking care of my husband for almost 30 years. Still, I wish I could sleep a full 6-8 hours each night.

In The Kitchen…
This week I plan on making a pork tenderloin, rotisserie chicken, pork chops with apples & stuffing, and I don’t know what else.

New To Me Stuff:
I saw some Quaker Protein Instant Banana Nut Oatmeal in the store a few days ago and thought I’d try it since I love Banana Nut bread. Ugh! Not so good!

Random Question…
What are some things that most people don’t know about you?

Looking forward To…
Having Tues. & Wed. off work after a long stretch of working every day.

A Favorite Bible Verse…
Psalm 37:8-9
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

From the camera…

Wondrous Words Wednesday

 wondrous words
Mar 192019
 

Hosted @ Bermudaonion’s Weblog

I saw this word in an email:

“In 1937, [radio astronomer Grote] Reber built the world’s first parabolic radio telescope in his backyard. The Reber Telescope was moved to the National Radio Observatory at Green Bank in the 1960s and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.” — Princeton Times (West Virginia), 21 Dec. 2018

parabolic:
adjective | pair-uh-BAH-lik

Definition
1 : expressed by or being a parable : allegorical

2 : of, having the form of, or relating to a curve formed by the intersection of a cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
Inside Tornadoes (Inside Series) by Mary Kay Carson

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Mar 182019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below

Inside Tornadoes

Inside Tornadoes (Inside Series) by Mary Kay Carson

Twisted Weather

Springtime thunderstorms on the Great Plains put on an exciting show. Dark clouds roll in, rain falls in buckets, and lightening bolts brighten the night sky for miles. The thunder is so loud you can feel it in your chest — like fireworks. Ka-BOOM

This is a children’s book, Gr 4-6

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros:
The Recipe by Candace Calvert

 first chapter first paragraph tuesday intros
Mar 112019
 

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that I’m reading or plan to read soon

Feel free to join in by posting your own FCFPTI and linking below sharing the first paragraph or two of a book that First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros reading or plan to read soon

The Recipe (Chance of Loving You) by Candace Calvert

Chapter One

Lucas Marchal fully expected his grandmother to show no interest in her hospital dinner tray; her appetite had dwindled to almost nothing. But in his wildest dreams he wouldn’t have imagined that her dour, no-nonsense nurse’s aid would lift the dish cover, scream, then stumble backward and fall to the floor.

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