Oh, For the Love of Books Wednesday

Reading - ain't nobody got time for that!
That seems to be my theme these past few days.
I have been so busy I have not had a chance
to really sit down and just read.
Thankfully, I was able to do some reading
this past weekend.

I finally did it!
I finally started "Outlander".

Oh my!!  It is so good thus far!!

Thank you Misti, April, Kristy, Krechella and
all my other friends who have been telling me
to read this book!  I have fell in love!
I am only on page 175 but I am already
so in love with Jamie.  He is a great
lead male character.  I can not wait
to find out more about his past.
The lead female character, Claire, is also very
interesting.  I am really enjoying reading
about her coming to terms with her new
surroundings.  I just hope it continues
to be as good as it is right now.

Update from last week:

I began to read the book
"Beautiful Creatures".

I have put it to the side for right now.
I tried three different times since last Wednesday
to read this novel.  However, it is not
happening at the present time.

I usually like most paranormal YA novels.
This one though just did not "catch" my attention
and I decided to give it a few weeks.  Hopefully,
I will be able to finally get "entranced" then.

I hope you will enjoy
"Oh, For the Love of Books Wednesday."
Please share any books that you think others
would be interested in reading.

Hope you all have a great night!

Dancin' With My Hubby

You know, I love my husband!!

He always seems to surprise me.

We have been married almost

15 years now and some

days it feels like we just got married

yesterday.  Of course, there are

the days they we get on each other's 

nerves to no end.  But through

it all, we have stayed the course.

Last night, Johnny was adding some

Boyz II Men songs to his iPod.

He was playing some of the songs

as we were going upstairs to bed.

As we stopped in the kitchen to 

make sure the dog had water,

the song "End of the Road" came on.

Next thing I know, I am twirling around the kitchen

in my husband's arms as we are dancing to this song.

He really can be romantic!  And it completely

caught me off guard a little also because

Johnny does not like to slow dance a lot.

But I loved every second as we danced 

in our kitchen to that old song!

I love you Johnny!

Have a great night everyone!

Oh, for the love of books!

Finally, I have had the chance to sit

down and read a couple of books

I have been wanting to read.

It has felt so good to just to get lost

in a good book again!  I actually have

read two books in the past week.

That has not HAPPENED in a long time.

Now, I know I stated in an earlier post that 

I was going to start speaking about books

on Sunday evenings.  However, since we

were so busy this weekend, I did not get a 

chance to write.  So, I decided to play catch 

up tonight!

First book up:

I have been wanting to read this since it came

out last year.  My family and I love

"Duck Dynasty" and I wanted to read the

book to get a better insight into the family.

The book is written by Willie (Phil's and Kay's

3rd eldest son) and his wife Korie.  

Besides some great recipes that I want to try,

the book gives you the back story of the family.

It tells the story of how the family got to where

they are today and how faith plays into everything

they do in their lives.  

I really enjoyed this book.  I wish it had told

a little more about the other family members.

They don't even mention Si until almost the end 

which kinda bummed me out.  

However, I would highly recommend this book

to anyone even if they don't watch the show!

Second book up:

Oh My!!  This book definitely

lives up to its title!  And this

is not your momma's old romances.

Now, I will tell you right now, 

this book is for MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY!!

There is language and other scenes that young

children should not be reading.  However, if

that stuff does not bother you -- Read The Book!

I have been wanting to read something by Ms. Banks

for a while now. I kept seeing her books at the book

store and kept telling myself I was going to read one.

Well, last Wednesday I purchased "Rush" and I will

be going back to purchase more of her work soon.

The story is about Mia and Gabe.  Gabe has known

Mia for years but never advanced on his feelings

since there is a 14 year age difference between the two.

Gabe also hasn't pursued Mia is because her brother

is his best friend and business partner.

However, after seeing Mia at an event for his company, 

Gabe decides it is time to make his move.

Lucky for Gabe, Mia has had a crush on him

for many years.  So, starts a fantastic read

that sucks in from the very beginning.

Now, I read some reviews about this book before 

reading it for myself.  Many stated it was very

similar to the "Fifty Shades" series and the 

"CrossFire" series.  And I will agree, I can see

why they would say this.  However, I honestly

think I enjoyed "Rush" more than "Fifty Shades".

I can't say it beats the "CrossFire" series but

I would put them in a tie.

Again, I would recommend if you do not mind

mature content and the language associated with

these books.  Like I said before, I will be getting

more of her works soon!

New book of the week:

I am going to start this one tonight.

I really want to see the movie.

However, I told myself that I would not

watch until I have read the book.

The reviews look good and I am 

excited to start reading.

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of you evening!

Love to you all!

No TV, Just Books

Wednesday night something happened

in this house, that never happens.

The TV was silent!

And no, I did not just turn off the

TV just for the picture -- LOL!

Instead of watching TV, we all sat down

with a book.  Shocking, I know!

But, I do have proof:

JJ and his reading choice of the night.

Johnny and his reading choice of the night.

And my reading choice!

I am hoping that we can do this one night 

a week from now on.

It was really a great change of pace!

If you have not tried it before,

I would highly recommend!

Have a great night everyone!

Books of 2013

I miss reading!  I miss it a lot!

I use to read all the time.  If you saw

me, you saw me with a book of some 

type.  I seriously could read a book 

a day if I had a chance.

Then I became a mother and

things got busy.  I still read on

occasion but definitely not like I use too.

That is why I have decided that

I am going to change that starting tonight.

Well, I should say starting tonight after

"The Walking Dead" goes off.

I am going to finally start reading 

all these books I have laying 

around the house and that are

stored on my NOOK.

Sundays will now be a little different

here on the "Wonderful Craziness Called

My Life."  Now, let me say I am in no

way a book reviewer.  I don't even play

one TV.  So, don't expect greatness here.

I just want to share what I have been reading

and let you know if I liked it or not.

The first book on this journey is going to be:

I have had this downloaded on my NOOK

since Johnny gave it to me several Christmas ago.

My sister-in-law Misti and many other friends

have said I need to read this book.  So, it made

it easy to decide which book to start with for

this new segment.

I am also reading one other book right now.

This one was loaned to me by my wonderful

friend Melinda.  It is titled:

This is Christian fiction book and 

thus far, it has been really good.

I will let you know more about this book

next week when I should have it done.

Have a great night everyone!

953 songs and counting

I love my iPod!  It is so nice to have when

Johnny or JJ are playing the Xbox.  I just put

my ear buds in and hit shuffle!

Now, hitting shuffle on my iPod is somewhat

a risky adventure!  I say this because I have

close to 1000 songs on my iPod.

Actually, 953 songs!  WOW!!

And those 953 songs come from

512 different albums.

Now I realize that it counts an album

even if I downloaded just one song.

Still that is ALOT!!

And talk about an eclectic mix.

My genres of music go from

Alternative to Country to

R&B/Soul to Metal.

It definitely runs around the block!

So, wondering what I am listening to currently?

Here is the 10 most recent songs on my iPod.

1.  Journey - Don't Stop Believing

2.  Europe - The Final Countdown

3.  Bell Biv DeVoe - Do Me!

4.  Bob Seger - Old Time Rock & Roll

5.  Garth Brooks - Against The Grain

6.  Trace Adkins - Ala-Freakin' Bama

7. Big & Rich - Lost In This Moment

8.  Brad Paisley - Celebrity

9.  Lynyrd Skynyrd - I Know A Little

10.  Skid Row - 18 and Life

I told ya it was eclectic.

I am actually surprised so much country

came up tonight.  I will admit, country is

starting to grow on me again.  With that

said though, my heart will always be a

classic rock heart!

Finally, I wanted to add this song.

I am still actually in shock it is not on my iPod.

(Out of 953 songs, you would think it would be there)

A friend of mine from college (Sharon) and I 

use to listen to it several times a day.

Then I use to do it at karaoke when 

I first started singing.  Then last night, my 

friend Susie, asked me to sing it again.

I then remembered why I loved this song

so much!

Have a great night everyone!

The Looks I Get When....

I carry my binder of coupons into the grocery store.

To those peoples throwing around looks, guess

what?  I don't care that you are looking at me weird.

I am saving money and that is all that matters!

I lucked into some great deals because I had 

my binder with me.  I actually got a coupon

for $1.50 off my next shopping trip.

So, thanks to that coupon, the products

I bought to get it were basically FREE!!

Also, see that loaf of bread in my cart?

I got that loaf of bread for $.99.  Score!

Now, I know some would say that they would 

have worked some way to get it for free.

Oh well!  As I have said before, I am not

an extreme coupon shopper.

However, I saved close to $60.00 on my

grocery bill last night.

In my opinion, that is $60.00 in my wallet

and not in their's.

On a side note, I have been kicking

around the idea of setting up a time

for people to gather to swap coupons, etc.

Maybe once a month.

If this is something you might be interested in,

please leave me a comment (with an email address).

Have a great night everyone!

Finally!!

Well, I have to say "YAY ME!!" After almost 30+ years of trying, I have finally learned how to crochet! You don't know how excited this makes me.

I have always wanted to learn. Bless my grandmothers, they both tried to teach me to no avail. My mother and my sister have both tried to teach me as well. Again, I never could do it. However, today was FINALLY my day!

My mom gave me a book a couple of months ago that is a teach yourself book. Honestly, I just threw it in my bag and said yeah right. So today, I decided to pull out that book and give it a try.

Now, I will admit, I was about to give up soon after I started. However, after I realized I was reading the instructions for a LEFT HANDER and switched to RIGHT HAND instructions, it was easy. Very minimal cursing on my part.

So again, I say YAY TO ME! I can check off something on my bucket list - LOL!!

Below is the picture of my first scarf I am working on currently. Yes, it blue and gold. My first project had to be WVU related!! It has taken me almost three hours to get this far but I don't care. At least I can finally do it. To me, that is all that matters!

Have a great day tomorrow everyone!

Snow Day = Cleaning Day

Oh, the crazy weather that has been around WV this week.

74 degrees on Wednesday before plummeting into the 20s-30s

on Thursday.  Then the snow started!  YIKES!

All and all I am not going to complain.

Even though I wasn't able to get to work yesterday,

I am not going to complain about the weather.

We need some cold weather to kill 

off some bugs and other things.

So, since they were calling for snow again

today (and it is still snow as I write), I

decided that today would be the perfect

day to clean!  And I mean clean.

Now, I am not saying my house is dirty or anything.

However, there are somethings I have been 

needing to do and just did not have the time.

Hence, snow day = cleaning day!

Besides the usual stuff, you know bathrooms, etc,

I decided to tackle the kitchen!

First things first, pull out the old sewing machine.

The first thing tackled was making something to

put my plastic wraps, storage baggies, etc in

so I could free up storage space.

Taking two fat quarters, I made this:

 It is actually very roomy.

It is currently holding four wraps and three boxes of

storage bags!  Not bad for $1.94!

After cleaning everything else, it was time

to tackle my cabinets.

Oh yes, I am famous for just sticking

things where ever just to get it put away.

So, I decided it was time to change that philosophy.

Tackled the food cabinets first.

Actually, this works in my favorite because

it helps me see what I need for my menu planning.

After the pantry, was the pots and pans cabinets.

Then, it was the dreaded container cabinets.

Why do I call them dreaded?

Well, take a look for yourself:

Geesh!

I told you I just threw things in the cabinet.

Then of course, I would complain when 

I couldn't find anything!

That is why today, I went through everything

in this cabinet.  Pulled some things for the coming

church yard sale and threw out anything that did not

have a lid or any lid that had no bowl!

I also made pockets for all the lids so they could

be stored out of the way.

After about an hour and a half, I got this:

Everything neat and tidy.

I need to go back and tweak my lid pockets a little,

but not to shabby if I do say so myself!

Now, this tired mama is heading to bed!

Have a great night everyone!

Love to you all!