The Sunday Salon: Happy Easter!

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Ti

The Girl w/Easter Eggs

Happy Easter! We attended Easter service last night, so today I am cooking up some ham, scalloped potatoes and fresh asparagus. Yum! I am trying a new recipe for the potatoes. You can check it out here.

Sunday Salon

The kids are off from school and things are beginning to relax a little from last week. Gosh, what a stressful week! So glad it’s behind us now.

A lot of you have sent me messages on Facebook letting me know that you’ve started The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle for #winditup2013.  Yay! Keep up the reading! We officially start on Monday so you are ahead of the game.

Okay, off I go to finish up a short story collection and then maybe watch a little TV. What are you up to today?

Filed under: Bookish Talk, Life | Tagged: , , | 26 Comments »

The Sunday Salon: Pulling Back the Reins

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Ti

Sunday Salon

This past week has been challenging. Without going into too much detail, The Boy found himself in a pickle and then could not dig his way out of it. When a fourteen-year-old boy, a busy one at that, thinks he can do it all and then doesn’t, it’s an alarming realization to both him and those around him who are used to seeing him succeed.

This week proved to me that no matter how mature your kid THINKS he is, as a parent, you still have to reel him in, take the situation apart and then figure out a game plan to set it all right again. That is pretty much what happened these past few days. I had to pull those reins… yank them really.

Now, the house is quiet but the “setting it all right” part is going to keep me busy for weeks! And the events of the past week have taken the shine off of some good things, like The Boy landing the part of Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast and his solo for Jazz\Pop (choir). I hate when you want to revel in the good, yet you keep having to remind yourself that the kid in the dog house.

But at the moment, the house is quiet and everyone is asleep except me and the Otter Pup. I am enjoying my first cup of coffee of the morning and plan to do some thrift store browsing later with the hopes of finding some costume pieces for The Girl’s ensemble costume. After errands, I will finish one book and begin another and then The Girl and I will settle in to watch Thunderball as our Bond movie marathon continues. Not sure what we’ll do for dinner. I usually like to make something really good on Sundays but I am not really in the mood!

This week should be more even and calm. Rehearsals and Open House at the school. More writing and more reading. That’s all I need to perk me up. Plus, I am gearing up for #winditup2013 which begins next week. Over seventy readers from all over the world will be joining me. Can’t wait.

What about you? Doing anything fun today? Reading anything really good?

Filed under: Bookish Talk, Life | Tagged: , , , | 27 Comments »

The Sunday Salon: Monday Edition

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Ti

Sunday Salon

I do not know what is going on with my blog. I was told that I was suspended since I was in violation of the service agreement but then I logged in through another browser and I seem to be okay. So this post is really my Sunday Salon on a Monday, but also a test to see if WordPress really did something to my account or if I got hacked somehow. Nothing quite like logging in and seeing a message like that. I just about had a heart attack. So my reminder to you… if you have a blog, take a moment to back it up now. I’ll wait.

Okay?

Good.

Anyway, the weekend was rather uneventful. Which is not a bad thing. We really needed to stay home and just chill out because The Boy has been crazy with stress lately and when he gets that way, he gets loud and obnoxious in that TEEN way of his. The Girl reacts to the nastiness with lots of sobbing which in turn makes me crazy so I kept The Boy in for the weekend which was good. He needed to be reeled in. All I wanted was a little slice of quiet and I think I got enough to feel like a normal person again. In between the reading and the movie watching, we grilled burgers and made stew and got ice cream. It was good.

On Tuesday, the final cast list for Beauty and the Beast will be posted and we have a Jazz Pop performance to look forward to this weekend. The Boy has a solo so he is very excited. He also has a track meet in Santa Barbara which conflicts with the performance. I swear, even with a schedule I have no idea what is going on at any given time. It’s all so confusing and exhausting trying to keep track of it all. He obviously can’t be in two places at once so we’ll see what wins out.

What am I reading? I am finishing up Carrie on audio and I am down to the final pages of The Painted Girls. I just started The Thief of Auschwitz by Jon Clinch. I have reviewed his books here before. I really enjoy his writing and have been looking forward to his new one for quite a while. I am also starting a short story collection titled Survival Skills: Stories by Jean Ryan.

What do you have planned for the week? Are you planning a getaway for Spring Break? If so, where?

Filed under: Bookish Talk, Life | Tagged: , , | 21 Comments »

The Sunday Salon: Auditions, Bond & Reading

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Ti

Sunday Salon

The house is still asleep. I sit here with the Otter Pup on my lap. She is not happy about sharing space with the MacBook but what can you do? I  haven’t had any coffee yet but the sun is peeking through and it’s COLD! Very cold, actually. The big storm we were supposed to get, was really just a little bit of rain. Oh, and the time change. I HATE Spring Forward. Don’t even get me going on that subject. In my mind, I just hate having to lose an hour of my weekend.

Now for some updates. The kids have completed round one of auditions for Beauty and the Beast. The callback list will be posted late Tuesday afternoon. The waiting is always hard. If you are familiar with the roles, The Boy is going for Beast, Gaston and Lumiere. The Girl is trying out for a Sugar pot, and a Pepper shaker that flies! Both have songs and some lines. I sure hope she gets one of them. Hoping The Boy gets called back for what he wants too.

Yesterday we went to the school’s variety show where the girl did a dance routine with her friend. It was cute and overall very well-paced. Sometimes those things go on and on but yesterday’s show was pretty good.

On the movie front…

We’ve been picking up discount DVDs lately as a form of cheap entertainment and we are slowly working our way through all of the James Bond movies. All of them except the Timothy Dalton ones (he sucked as Bond!). I’ve seen many if not all of them before, but The Girl is having a such a good time watching them. Last night we watched Goldfinger.

Gioldfinger

These movies are PG, show very little of anything but have a lot of action and that is what The Girl likes. Plus, she remembered the theme song from Bassey’s performance at the Oscars and has been signing it non-stop ever since. Seeing these movies has made me want to read the books.

On the reading front…

I am reading The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. I just started The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver and I just gave up on my audiobook and will probably listen to Carrie by Stephen King.

Wind-Up Bird Read Along Button 2013

I should mention that March is flying by at an alarming rate. When I first announced #winditup2013, it was only January. Now, it’s right around the corner! We have over seventy readers signed-up from all around the world. Many are fans of Murakami’s writing but many of them are brand new to Murakami too. It’s going to be a blast! I seriously cannot wait.

As for today, nothing exciting planned. I have to help The Girl with her Loma Prieta earthquake science project so that will take up much of the day. Fun! Maybe I will get some time to myself later.

Filed under: Bookish Talk, Life | Tagged: , , , | 32 Comments »

The Sunday Salon: Getting Organized

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Ti

Reading Loft
The Hub has been on a business trip all weekend so that made it the perfect weekend to do some spring cleaning. I find that when he is gone, I can’t get ANY reading done because the kids are always at me but The Girl seems to like cleaning when I am doing it with her, so we tackled the garage. We also cleaned out drawers and closets but there is one area that still needs some attention. Yep, those shelves you see above.

That, my friends, is the loft where I keep some of my books. Originally, The Boy took it over but now he prefers to hole up in his room. The Girl doesn’t spend any time there so I am thinking that it will be mine again very soon!

I have a bookshelf downstairs that holds my TBR list in order. It stares at me and reminds me to read. This loft though, houses books that I want to read at some point in my life, as well as books that I have read and want to keep. That middle shelf are all books that I want to keep. Mostly because they are signed or part of a series or books that I think my son might read for school in the near future. The left is a mish-mosh of stuff and the right is mostly YA books.

It’s actually a nice space. There is a couch and a desk and you see the corner of the TV there. You also see  my son’s exercise stuff and some stuff my daughter stuffed in just to get it out of her room. Overall though, it’s a comfortable space and I am sort of looking forward to claiming it back.

We’ll see how that goes.

Sunday Salon

In a little bit, I am off to take two giggly girls shopping for outfits for the Variety Show that the school is putting on. The Boy is off to the Observatory with friends and then maybe, just maybe I will have some time later to read something. If I do, it will be The Painted Girls. I am also about halfway done with  The Silent Land and it’s very strange! I am not sure if I like it or not. It’s good to have a reading plan but knowing me, I will be tearing that loft apart later.

What are you doing today? It was a gorgeous 80 degrees yesterday and today it’s gloomy and about to rain. Plus, I see in the forecast that we are expected to get three days of rain this week! We need it, but I really prefer to spend rainy days at home.

Filed under: Bookish Talk, Life | Tagged: , , , | 39 Comments »

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