What Have You Gotten Me Into?

My big sister wouldn't steer me wrong, right?  So signing up for three readathons in the next 4 months must be a good idea.  Every summer, I make myself a Summer Reading List - usually new releases with pretty covers.  Last year I chose seven books and only read four of them so, when Teri @ Henningsen Happenings challenged me to step up my reading for the summer I hesitated.  But it sounds like so much fun, that I gave in.  

The largest of the challenges is Summer Reading, hosted by Katie's Book Blog.  Summer Reading runs for four months - May 1 to Sept. 1.  You just set your own reading goal - minimum of 5 books - and read.  There are prizes throughout the summer and a grand prize drawing for those who reach their goal.  Just like being a kid at the library again!  Picking that magic number of books is the tough part.  There are 17 weeks in this challenge (+ a couple days), so I've settled on twelve as being a reasonable goal.

Read-a-thon #2 is the Bout of Books Read-a-thon, hosted by Amanda and Kelly.  BoB, as the hostesses call it, runs from May 12 through May 18, with daily challenges and giveaways, and three Twitter chats during the week.  Since that is the week that two of our children graduate from college, I'm not setting a goal other than to participate as much as my schedule allows.  

Readathon #3 is the Library Read-a-thon hosted by Rachael Turn's Pages.  During the week of June 9th-16th, read as many library books as you can.  Sounds simple.  And I usually have a stack sitting around collecting overdue fees.  The timing on this one is perfect.  All of the graduations and family reunions will be over and I'll be ready for some down time with books.

This is my starter stack.  Lighthouse Bay, The Engagements, and Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble are the three leftovers from last summer that STILL haven't been read.  The Help is on loan from a former co-worker and needs to be returned soon.  The last two, The Bookstore and The Invention of Wings, are recent purchases that I'm excited to read. There are a lot more options on my shelves, plus an excellent city library, so finding the other six books to reach my goal should be easy.

So there you have it - a summer of books with my sister.  And if it doesn't work out, I'm telling Mom!

Books Read:
1.  Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield
2.  Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman

Needlework Tuesday

Dave and I traveled to visit out son over Easter weekend.  While we were there, things took an unexpected turn and Son chose to call off his engagement and upcoming wedding. Naturally, it was an emotional time and there were lots of details to be tended to.  With Son busy finishing his schooling (graduation is in 2 weeks) I volunteered to stay with him a few extra days to help out and give emotional support.

The up side to my unexpected week away was that I had plenty of time to knit.  If you got back to April 15 - the last time I participated in Needlework Tuesday - you'll see that I was making a shawl from some beautiful aqua yarn, and that I had used up all I had and was waiting to get to the store for more.  No such luck!  The brand - Yarn Bee - is evidently out of business and, while they still had a large stock of some colors, there was no "robin's egg" to be found.  I couldn't even find it on line.  So - plan B.

I decided on a lovely red shade and bought 6 skeins this time.  The two skeins of aqua got "un-knitted" and saved for another project - except for the bit I used to add stripes to my shawl.  I love the red and aqua combination.  

This was knitted using the Figure 8 Stitch on my largest round loom, and a #6 (chunky) yarn.  It is so soft and snuggly - I can't wait for an evening to wrap up in it by the fire pit.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather @ Books & Quilts.

Readathon Roundup

Readathon is over for another six months, and once again I didn't get nearly as much reading done as I hoped.  But I'm claiming extenuating circumstances. 

I spent last week at our son's house, helping him through a tough week, and returned home less than twelve hours before start time.  There were a lot of chores that had been neglected and needed to be done before starting a new work week, so my plan was to accomplish them in 10-minute intervals throughout the day.  Some of them proved to be more of a distraction and required more time than I had anticipated.  Phone calls also ate into my reading time.

In spite of the distractions, I managed to read for at least part of 14 hours - 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.  I took an intentional break and tried to come back at 1:00 a.m. to finish out the twenty four hours, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open.  

Here are my stats:

Books read:  I read portions of four books, but completed 0.  I find that switching back and forth keeps my mind more alert.

Pages read:  Approximately 275.  Nothing to brag about, but considering everything else I got done, not bad.

Book Titles:  Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
                     The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber
                     Snow Melts in Springtime by Deborah Vogts
                     Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl

Mini-Challenges Entered: 5 - I tend to enter challenges that don't require too much time and/or that are out of the ordinary.  Kudos to the challenge hosts this year for a great lineup.

Blogs visited:  5 - I'm embarrassed to say.   But my plan is to make the rounds soon.  After being gone last week, I will be working overtime to catch up this week so it may be a bit, but I'll get there.

New Twitter friends to follow:  4.  I don't know how to assign a statistic to the fun I had in Twitter conversations.

Readathon Rating (on a scale of 1 to 10) :  10!!  Thanks to Andi, Heather and all the other wonderful bloggers who work so hard to do this every six months.  It is one of my most anticipated days.  Eventually I will get a system that allows me to do more reading but still enjoy the social aspects.

Your Name In Lights . . .

Well, not quite.  But, Felicia at The Geeky Blogger's Book Blog is putting our name in book titles.  Her challenge is to spell your first name using the first letter of book titles.  For once, I'm glad to have a short name.

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline

Ancient Puzzles

Murder for Christmas by Agatha Christie

Inferno by Dan Brown

Dave thought it was such a fun idea, he would put his own name up in book titles, even though he's not participating in the readathon.  He even used David instead of Dave, just for a little more challenge.

Drinking with George by George Wendt
Alice Cooper, Golf Monster by Alice Cooper
Vietnam War Paintings  (all painted by Jim Nelson, a friend of Dave's)
Illusion by Frank Peretti
Don't Hurt People by Matt Kibbe

Mid-Event Meme

1.  What are you reading right now?  "Bellman and Black" by Diana Setterfield

2.  How many books have you read so far?  I haven't completed any books because I jump around a lot.  I have read from 3 books, and I have several more lined up for later into the night.

3.  What book are you most looking forward to in the second half?  The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler

4.  Did you have to may any special arrangements to free up your whole day?  Since my children are grown and out of the house, I don't usually have to make many arrangements.  However, this year it turned out that I got called away for a family crisis and was gone all of last week.  I was worried that I wouldn't make it home in time.  I arrived at 8:00 last night.

5.  Have you had many interruptions and how do you deal with those?  Poorly!  :)  Having been gone for a week, there are lots of household chores that need to be done and I have been trying to work on them in small doses, but they have taken up more time than I anticipated.  I have also been interrupted by phone calls, but not much I can do about that.

6.  What surprises you most about the readathon so far?  How quickly time flies!

7.  Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the readathon next time? If Andi and Heather could figure out how to insert more minutes into each hour so I have time to do all the things - that would be great!

8.  What would you do differently next year?  Hire a maid beforehand and take the phone off the hook.

9.  Are you getting tired yet?  Nope

10.  Do you have any tips for other readers?  Don't try to do everything.  If you try to do all the challenges, visit all the blogs and chat on Twitter, you won't have time to read.  And don't be intimidated by readers who are posting huge numbers of books and/or pages read.  They are the exception.

Hour 10 Mini-Challenge: Shelfies

Thanks to the ladies at The Book Monsters for a fun and quick mini-challenge.  Just take and post a picture of your book shelf, a portion of your book shelf, you and your bookshelf . . . and post it on your blog, then link up.  Easy Peasy! So here are shelfies of two of my favorite shelves:

Some of my favorite mystery paperbacks - I love the colorful covers.

Some classics and some fun vintage books I picked up at auctions and library sales.  Haven't read any of them yet, but soon . . . hopefully.

Hour 9 Mini-Challenge: On Food and Books

For hour 9, Caro @ A Girl That Likes Books  wants to hear about our favorite "book inspired" recipe.

One of my favorite series of books is "The Cat Who..." series by Lilian Jackson Braun.  Food is mentioned frequently in the stories so the author published a cookbook of all the food items mentioned in the books.  My favorite recipe from that book is "Mrs. Cobb's Meat Loaf".  I've never been a meatloaf fan, but the cranberry sauce adds a bit of sweetness that is unique, and I love this version.  I'm not sure this actually follows the rules of Caro's challenge, since I didn't create the recipe myself, but it tastes better than anything I could invent on my own!

Mrs. Cobb's Meat Loaf

1 1/2 T. brown sugar
1/2 c. cranberry sauce
2 eggs
3 T. onion
1/2 c. milk
1/4 t. thyme
1/8 t. sage
dash nutmeg
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
2/3 c. bread crumbs
1 1/2 lb. ground beef

Combine all ingredients thoroughly, form into loaf and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour - depending on how thick your make the loaf.  I serve it with my grandma's sweet chili sauce that I can each summer (you can find that recipe here), but it's also good with BBQ sauce or just plain.