Category Archives: Life

The Sunday Salon: Tween Angst, Indie Lit Awards, In-Between Reading

The Sunday Salon Button

It’s been a rough week. In the course of just a few days, The Boy was nominated for the Winter Dance royal court, removed from the ballot due to an administrative error, put back on for a re-vote, his “date” told him to go to the dance by himself, her friend slapped him (yes, she did), he found another date, lost the title to another boy, and then got hit with THE WORST stomach flu ever. Tough week for The Boy. Tough week for me. It’s hard to watch the drama without intervening or saying too much.

The Boy - Winter Dance

I was at a Christmas party when he got ready. Otherwise that shirt would have been tucked in for sure.

The Corsage

The corsage that he ordered and paid for with his own money. He’s twelve!

In between all of the tween drama, I’ve been thinking about the Indie Lit Awards. If you are a book blogger, and want to nominate a 2010 book for the award, be sure to stop by. Nominations close on December 15th. I am a judge for the Lit Fiction panel and I am looking forward to seeing which books make the shortlist. Since I need to read all five books by the end of January, I am going to be a reading fool.

As for “in-between” reading…

As of this moment, I know what I plan to read over winter break and I can take a guess on what I’ll be reading for the Lit Fiction shortlist, but what do I read now? In-between reading is sometimes a challenge. I don’t like books that are too light, but picking up A Suitable Boy, which I am trying to read in-between other reads is tough too.

I find that if I don’t pick-up something right away, that I end up picking nothing and just sort of do silly stuff like play Every Word on my Kindle. I think I may start Hating Olivia. It’s one of the few review copies I have that can be reviewed right away.

Hating Olivia Book CoverIt’s a gorgeous day in So. Cal today. It’s expected to be about 70 degrees. The Boy is eating now and the fever is still hanging around but I hope to get out later and maybe hit the bookstore. I might make some Gingerbread cookies later, too. What do you have planned for today?

The Sunday Salon: All Puffed Up and Nowhere to Go

Sunday Salon Button

Many of you know that I am allergic to chicken. BUT, for whatever reason I am not allergic to turkey and let me tell you, this year I cooked THE BEST TURKEY EVER. I’m not kidding. The Hub and kids sighed over it. It came out, it looked great (they always do, don’t they?) but it was so moist and delicious that I went into a turkey stupor.

Forget the side dishes. It was turkey, and more turkey and after eating it on Thursday, and working two sandwiches into my diet these past couple of days, we are now without turkey and we are all sad. Sad, I say! Even the neighbor girl, the one that “helped” decorate the tree,  said that it was the best turkey she had in her entire life. She’s eight. Just so you know.

What did I do to the turkey to make it so good? Heck if I know. I cooked it the same way I always do, in an oven bag for the exact time it says to do so, stuffed with oranges and veggies. Just so you know, the oranges make THE BEST GRAVY.

It was a year of BESTS and I am stuffed. Well, not really but I never eat that much. Why do you feel hungry all the time after eating one big meal? I feel sluggish and just want to veg on the couch which is exactly what I shouldn’t do.

As for shopping, I was pretty much done with my shopping by Black Friday but it’s tradition that I head out into the chaos so out I went. It was crazy, but good crazy. Cold, crazy (brrr). The kind of crazy that has you sipping Starbucks and singing Mariah Carey songs. Yep, I’ve lost it. I did get terribly excited about a B&N coupon thinking that I could get the entire Harry Potter set for $24 but alas, it was not to be. I’ve read the series through book four, but never finished the series so I was thinking of reading them all over Christmas break.

Today, I am in denial. I have a paper to write, and I am thinking of work and all the projects sitting on my desk waiting for my attention. I had a nice week off but it’s never long enough. At least, it never seems to be.

I plan to procrastinate just a bit more so I can catch-up with my reader. Off, I go!