Readathon: Mad-Libs Challenge

This fun challenge is hosted by the ladies at Nisaba be Praised,  The idea is to select a short paragraph from the book you are reading, remove words then ask a friend, neighbor or total stranger to randomly select words to replace them - creating a "Mad-Lib".

Here is my original sentence, from page 71 of Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg:

"But I think maybe it was just one of those times when a memory picks you up and carries you off like dandelion fluff." (which, by the way, is an awesome sentence)

Here's the Mad-Lib version created with random words selected by my husband, Dave:

"But I think maybe it was just one of those times when a rifle picks you up and passes you off like a pumpkin."  (not as awesome - but strangely graphic)

Thanks for the fun challenge, girls.  Back to reading.

A Puzzling Mini-Challenge: The Winners!

A great big thanks to everyone who entered my mini-challenge.  The Challenge was to identify the 10 food represented by 10 book covers.  Out of 50 entrants, 9 got them all correct: (my apologies if I got blog/Tumblr names, or participant names wrong)





Megan @ YA? Why Not?
Caladiel @ This is Neurotica
Karen
Laura @ Please Pardon the Interruption
Tiffany @ Truthfully Tichwi
Nadia @ Eu e o Ban
CaroG @ A Girl Who Lies Books
Maenad @ Naked Came the Maenad
Esther @ Are You Sitting Comfortably

Way to go, guys!  My great-niece, Elaine, drew a number to determine the winner, and the winner is:

Maenad @ Naked Came the Maenad

Elaine also drew a number to select the runner-up winner from all entrants.  And that prize goes to:

Deb Nance @ Readerbuzz

Congratulations, Maenad and Deb!  Please contact me at hcl_tami@yahoo.com with your mailing address and I'll send your prize package.

And Honorable Mention to Stacy @ Stacy's Books who got 9.5 correct.  She incorrectly identified Milk Glass Moon as Big Cherry Hollar - another book in the same series by Adriana Trigiani.  So close!  But sorry, there's no prize for that. :)

Here are the correct answers:

Fried Green TOMATOES at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
The GRAPES of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the PIE by Alan Bradley
The Guernsey Literary and POTATO Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 
The Particular Sadness of LEMON CAKE by Aimee Bender
Playing for PIZZA by John Grisham
CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris
MILK Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani
Green EGGS and HAM by Dr. Seuss
On the Banks of PLUM Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Hour 4 Mini-Challenge

Heather at Capricious Reader is hosting this hours mini-challenge:  Book Spine Poetry.

I'm not much of a poet even when I have ALL the words to choose from. Limiting myself to book titles makes for some hilarious results.  Here's what I came up with:

In case you can't make that out - 

The wind in the willows after the rain,

Soaring eagle,

Sweet salt air,

A place of quiet rest.

A Puzzling Challenge

              THIS MINI-CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED!
I'm tallying answers as fast as I can and will announce the winner ASAP.  Thanks for all your entries.  Hope you had fun!


Hey, Read-a-thon-ers!  Welcome to Just One More Thing... where we like puzzles, books and food.  This hour's mini-challenge combines all three.  Below is a picture puzzle with portions of ten book covers.  The title of each book contains a type of food (for example: If You Give a Moose a Muffin, would qualify.)  How many can you name?

Leave your list of the ten foods represented in the comment section.  No need to include the full book title - unless your just compulsive that way.   Comments will remain hidden until the challenge closes in three hours (12:00 noon, Central Time).  The winner will be randomly selected from all correct entries.  Even if you don't know all ten, list as many as you can - there will be a second random drawing from all entrants.

And speaking of prizes . . . The winner will receive this prize package:

Recipe box, autographed copy of Peas, Beans and Corn by Jennifer Wixson, 
English Tea Murder by Leslie Meier, and The Scarlet Pepper by Dorothy St. James

An entrant drawn at random will receive a set of recipe cards.  Good Luck!

click to enlarge

A big thank you to Jennifer Wixson for donating the signed copy of her book.  Find out more about Jennifer and her books here.

Read-A-Thon: And Away We Go . . .

It's that time again -- twenty-four hours of reading,  entering challenges, reading, meeting new friends, and reading!  If that sounds like your kind of fun, you can still join.  Visit the Dewey's Readathon site for all the details and to sign up.

I am reading from my home in SE Nebraska - a two acre plot we call "Green Acres" (see the "about" page to find out why).  It is fall harvest in Nebraska, so Hubs, who manages the local grain elevator, will be at work today.  Since we are empty-nesters, the only distractions in the house are the two dogs.  I really have no excuse for not getting some reading done.

My reading plan begins with Bible devotions, then I'll be moving on to the books I've already started:  Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg and You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado, and The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Pickman (a true story of a supposedly-haunted home we visited a couple weeks ago).  My experience from past read-a-thons tells me that I get more read if I switch between books frequently.

These books (and more) from my own shelves are waiting in the wings: 

Along with these books from the library:

I like to leave my options open - obviously.

So - time to pour a cup of coffee and get started on twenty-four glorious hours of reading.  Come back at 9:00 a.m. (Central Time) for my Puzzling Mini-Challenge.

October Pin It/Do It: A Sheepish Pin

This is such an easy pin that I almost feel guilty counting it for the October challenge. Almost. 

School teacher, Julie Joest, posted this picture of a project she assigned her class - create a card by drawing a doodle or Zentangle on an old book page, and glue to construction paper.

I didn't necessarily need a card, but loved the idea of Zentangling on old book pages.  Since I keep a box of books from an estate sale for just such crafting occasions, I tore out several pages and gave it a try.  I experimented with a couple types of paper, but the best result was on the porous paper rather than paper with a shiny finish.  I especially liked the look of the yellowed edges.   

        

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these, but then I have no idea what to do with an entire sketch book full of Zentangles.  But if a use ever comes up, I'm ready.  And we'll call that Pin #1 for October Pin It.

Visit Trish @ Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity to see what everyone is pinning and doing, or to join.

Needlework Tuesday: Halloween Costumes

I spoke with a young mother the other day who was lamenting the high cost of Halloween costumes.  This family is not in a position to buy a lot of extras at the moment, so she was trying to create a no-cost costume for her 10-month-old daughter.   While I was brainstorming ideas, I thought of the aprons I've been making and "voila" - the perfect idea for an easy, low-cost costume.
These are perfect for infants and toddlers.  For the Candy Corn costume, dress the child in one of the three colors, add apron and a white cap.  The Lady Bug costume includes a black elastic headband with pipe cleaner and pom-pom antennas.  Dress the child in black and you're ready to go.  I am also making a Jack-O-Lantern version.  

I forgot to put anything in the picture for size perspective.  This version is approximately 12" long from top of bib to bottom of apron, since the are intended for infants.  As in the regular aprons, the neck strap is elastic, and the waist band hooks with Velcro.  Also like the originals, they are reversible, so the back side could be a second costume, or an apron for kitchen-play later.

This is a quick and easy costume that can be made from scraps.  I had a fat quarter of the red fabric and I could cut three aprons in this small size. If you have any babies/toddlers to dress up for Halloween, feel free to borrow this idea.  I'll even provide measurements if you need them.

The only other stitching I did this week was a couple hours spent on perfecting my tatting.  I've improved enough to move to smaller thread for a more delicate look.  I'm not quite ready to try making something other than a chain of loops, but I'll keep practicing until I am.

Needlework Tuesday is a weekly feature sponsored by Heather @ Books & Quilts.  Stop by and see what everyone is stitching.