Sunday Salon~I'm Back times 2! 1/17/10

Happy Sunday!  It feels good to be back after all of these months.  I fell off a bit with blogging last year because I was on an intense home search and eventually found and moved into a wonderful new home.  You know everything else that comes along with that--changing schools for the kids, helping the kids adjust, housewarming, and days upon days of unpacking (which is still incomplete).  In addition to that, I also earned a promotion to a position that is even more demanding than my previous job.

Things are falling into a nice rhythm now, and I'm finally able to devote more time to my reading.  Oh, and how could I forget to mention the best part of moving into my new home....floor to ceiling, entire wall length, built in book shelves!!  Before I get into what I've been reading this week, let me tell you how I finally decided on buying this particular house.  I'd been looking for houses since November of 2008 and most were nice, but there would always be something that did not fit my criteria.  People kept telling me 'when you find your home, you will know it'. What the heck does that mean?  'You will just...know'.  Well, I know I needed a home that had enough space for all of my books, an in-law suite (not really in-law because it was for my own mommy), and an extra bedroom...wooden floors, a fireplace and a pool would be nice perks.  Perfect would be a house with a weeping willow tree in the yard. 

I kept seeing this one house online but would pass it over thinking it was more than I was willing to pay, but I decided to do a drive by and check it out.  The first thing I saw in the yard was my tree!!  Hmm, I'm feeling something here.  My realtor and I make an appointment to see the home and what do I see in the family room, the book case and my wooden floors in the formal living room and dining room. My house hunting was finally done and we moved in about 45 days later.  Needless to say, the shelves are just about full because I've gone a little overboard now that I have the additional book space.

The past 2 weeks I've made a few purchases. I started off at the local library sale and picked up:

From my favorite independent bookstore, Classics in Trenton, NJ I picked up:

and from Borders online:

Currently Reading:

The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chestnutt. This is the first of several books I will be reading as I explore classic writings by writers of African descent.  The dialect is a little difficult to get used to, but I am enjoying these supernatural folk tales of goophering and haunting.

I just started Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and can already see that the book is going to be much better than the movie..and this was an EXCELLENT movie.  I am able to see more of what is going in Oskar's mind, how tortured and bullied this poor little boy is by his classmates.  Nothing like your typical vampire story, but just as chilling!

Sunday Salon~Cool Mama?

I am glad to be in one piece right now. Picture a 34 year old mom, climbing up a hill, falling flat on her stomach in $100 Steve Madden leather high heeled boots. Not only did I fall flat on my stomach, but I slid down the hill almost tumbling into an outright roll...in front of two other mom's, much less daring. I played it off like I meant to fall in an effort to entertain my girls. See, the plan was to take them to the hill and sit in the car listening to the rest of The Poisonwood Bible while they trekked up and down the hill with their little snow tube. But the hill was so slippery they needed me to hold the tube until they positioned themselves and were ready to take off. I'm usually very averse to cold weather and playing in the snow, but the sun was shining and the girls' excitement was contagious. I actually hopped in the tube and slid down a few times which gained me some Mommy Cool points...the other kids looked at me and then at their mom's who gave them the look that said 'don't even ask'.

A few weeks ago, I discovered that our pet turtle Angel has a taste for more than just floating pellets when he ate two algae eaters I bought to help keep the tank clean. Today, I bought him a nice crunchy treat for his growing appetite...freeze dried grasshoppers. We watched and listened in awe --those dry grasshoppers sure make a loud crunch! Angel had a better Sunday dinner than us because I just did not feel like cooking anything special today.

Here's a little book case I picked up from the local Family Dollar store for $12 bucks. I didn't want to invest in anything too fancy since we are moving soon. In our new house, I would like to put in floor to ceiling, wall to wall wooden library shelves I saw in the IKEA catalog, or something similar. So, this will suffice for now. That leaves 2 more boxes of books with no formal shelf to call their own, as well as one box that comprises my MoochPile.

On the reading front:

I'm almost finished listening to The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver; I'm on disc 12 of 13. This a book I really enjoyed for the most part, but the last few chapters seem a bit unnecessary. What I thought was the end, wasn't...and now, I'm getting a bit impatient for the story to wrap up.

Fault Line by Barry Eisler was lost for a few days, so I didn't make much progress on that book this week. I still probably won't read much more than a chapter or two because I'm really into The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan. Historical fiction, particularly those that explore the dyamics of cultural traditions and family conflict over the generations have been piquing my interest lately. I'd like to finish it by next weekend so that I can get started on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe for the Reading Globally discussion group on LT.

That's about it for now. See you all later on in the week!

Sunday Salon--Road Trip

Don't you hate it when people make you waste your time and money? Since I'm a lady I didn't curse anyone out too bad for my inconvenience...but trust me, I was one unhappy camper and the only thing that made things a tad bit better is that I was able to finish up a really good book. I needed to take care of a bill, but I wanted to make the payment in person so that I could obtain a receipt, rather than wait for them to send one in the mail. The customer service rep told me the office hours were until 9pm. Great! Rather than take a half day, I only needed to leave work 2 hours early (the business is in Lancaster, Pa about an hour from my home). So, I'm on the road, paid my $4 bridge toll from Jersey to Philly and hopped on the PA turnpike. I called the business to let them know I was running a little late due to heavy traffic but would be there in about 20 minutes. The customer rep tells me, "Oh, well I will take your payment but you will have to wait for your receipt in the mail. The lady who does the receipts leaves at 5pm". WHAT!! Why didn't you say that when I spoke to you the first time? The whole point in me coming there was to get a receipt and I told her that I would be there around 5:30 during our initial conversation. Now I have to turn around, pay the turnpike toll, AGAIN and reschedule another day to come there, take more time off of work.

It just so happened I had off on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday and decided to make my trek again. What a day to pick, 0ur area was due for a snow storm that afternoon. Nonetheless, I got on the road about 1pm after picking up Stephen King's Carrie on audiobook, by the time I hit the bridge into Philly huge snowflakes begin landing on the windshield. Aaah, it didn't look too bad. Thirty minutes later, on the PA turnpike it was horrible! I'm moving at 20mph, if that. Every 10 miles I see cars slid off to the side of the road and passed countless accidents. It was a mess! A normally 45-60 minute trip turned into 3 hours. I couldn't even get my shop on at the Lancaster Outlets, I just wanted to get back home. By the time I made it back to Jersey, it was 8pm at night. Seven hours on the road, praying for a safe trip back home to my girls. Whew, that was the worst!

Reading updates: I finished Carrie on the while on the road and the Coffee Trader by David Liss at home. Both great reads.

I'm now listening to Poisonwood Bible and reading Executive Power and Fault Line.


Recently purchased--Volumes 1 and 2 of the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces from the library for $1 each. These are texts I used in my college lit classes and remembered enjoying the classic stories, Lysistrata was one of my favorites.

Sunday Salon~Kiddie Corner and updates

Although I didn't get home from playing Poker-Keeno at my aunt's house until 1am this morning, I made it a point to read a few more chapters of The Coffee Trader by David Liss until 3am and a few more chapters when I woke up. This afternoon I had to split my time between watching the Inaugural Concert and the NFC championship. The concert was AWESOME, my Eagles...well, not so awesome.

My five year old lifted my spirits by reading one of her library books to me. Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli is an excellent choice for beginning readers with a nice balance of age appropriate sight words and adorable illustrations . My daughter enjoyed comparing how the pup tries to avoid bedtime just like she does. I then read I Love my Hair and Goldilocks and the Three Bears to her which she also enjoyed.

Earlier in the week, I finished two books that I am reading for my 2009 Reading Challenges. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom is the first book I finished for the Audiobook Challenge hosted by J. Kaye. What a thought provoking book! I sat in my car and listened to the last chapter, then sat for another ten minutes (in the cold) just absorbing it all. Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale by Nagai Kafu, well, I truly enjoyed this book which I read for the Diversity Rocks Challenge and as part of Library Thing's Reading Globally discussion group, but the ending kind of let me down. It was rather abrupt. My reviews to these titles will be posted soon.

This week, I'll be finishing up the Coffee Trader by David Liss for the Early Winter 2009 reading group on Library Thing, Executive Power by Vince Flynn for the Series Challenge, and starting the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan for the eBook Challenge also hosted by J. Kaye. On our next trip to the library, I'm going to look help my 8 year old daughter find Sugar Plum Ballerinas by Whoopi Goldberg and Deborah Underwood. It was recommended by Amazon.com based on my previous purchases and is highly rated (4 1/2 stars). Has anyone heard about the Sugar Plum Ballerinas series? What did you or your child think of the boooks?

Sunday Salon~Fresh Start

Fly, Eagles Fly on the road to victory...





I must start with a huge shout out of congratulations to my Philadelphia Eagles for their awesome win over the Minnesota Vikings. What a wonderful way to start off the new year! The look of disgust, mixed with a little apprehension dare I say, on my uncle's face was priceless. He's a Giant fan and the rivalry amongst the Eagle vs Giants fans in my family is fierce! I can't wait until next week's East Coast brawl.




I started off this morning by reading up to page 22 of Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale by Nagai Kafu and it's really much more exciting than I expected. I thought the story would take a while to progress but much has already been revealed about the main characters and their motives, I can't wait to see how this all plays out. I must admit, besides browsing through the first chapter of Executive Power by Vince Flynn and The Coffee Trader by David Liss, I didn't get much reading done today because I was trying to start this new year off right, by getting organized. Well, actually I just made a list of the things I need to do in order to get organized (smile). I've still got a ways to go. But, I did get the main morning time drainer taken care of...styling my two youngest daughters hair!

Besides staying current with all of my 2009 Challenges, I do plan on:

1. Not letting my To Be Reviewed list go beyond 3. Right now I have 8 to do. I need to develop a little template just so I can have something posted, then elaborate later on if I feel the need.
2. Buy a new book case for the shelfless books, smashed together in cardboard boxes piled high next to my computer. Oh, I'm so lucky these books can't call Literary Services on me for abuse.
   
3. Looking through all of my cook books and donating ones I will never/have never used. In addition, I will NOT buy any more cook books, except for Daisy Cooks by Daisy Martinez. Of the cook books that remain, I plan to--no, I commit to make a recipe from one book at least once 3 times per month.
4. Reading to my younger daughters more and continuing to take all my girls to the library bi-weekly. I can't wait to read my favorites of the books I purchased for them at Christmas-- I Love My Hair by Natasha Harpley and Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen.

To sum up, the books I plan to read so far this month are:

• Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale by Nagai Kafu for the Reading Globally discussion group at LT
• Coffee Trader for the Early Winter 2009 Reading Group at LT
• Executive Power by Vince Flynn for the 2009 Series Challenge, TBR Challenge
• A Mercy by Toni Morrison
• Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
• I Love my Hair by Natasha Anastasia Harpley