It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. As she says, it’s “a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!”


I am in the middle of Broken Dishes by Earlene Fowler. This is #11 in the Benni Harper Mystery series. I am trying to complete this series as part of the Mega Mix Challenge that is hosted by Love of Reading on Goodreads. Also, the November Mini Challenge in that same group needs to be Food or Feast related. I chose the easy level, 3 books with titles that are related to food. I read Caramel and Magnolias by Tess Thompson, and now am finishing Broken Dishes. Next I will read Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb. Cathy Lamb's book is also the November read for Love of Reading group. So yea for multi-tasking.!! 

What are you reading this week?  Link up with Sheila at Book Journey and share you current reads. 

Until next time, 
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Saturday Snapshot : The sewing machine has been humming!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky (at West Metro Mommy). Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

In the last few weeks I have been working on finishing some projects. My plan for 2014 is to use up what is in my stash and finish projects that I have purchased and not finished. A plan to downsize and git r done!

All 2013 I have been taking part in a BOM from Shabby Fabrics. I have shared a few of them in past posts.
They come from designer Kathy Schmitz and are complete with fabric and backing. I only need to supply the batting and the sewing thread, and a scrap of fusible web. Here is August and November. They all fit on a standing frame that I display on top of our entertainment center. I am working on stitching December to have it ready by Dec 1st or no later than the 10th.

Also this fall, I worked on a seasonal banner set that has 4 parts, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. It was in the Quick Quilts magazine 2011. I have done Summer and here is Fall:

 This was made with fabrics from my stash. I did not purchase anything.  The same with the large table runner shown below. You can see the scrappy binding and even the backing piece was in my fall basket on the shelf. I did have to buy a piece of batting for this one. It is 27x36 and the largest batting I had in my stash had a chunk cut out of it. *sad face*   But I did purchase some fusible tape so I can put my batting scraps together for future projects.

This pattern is called Log Cabin Pumpkins and is from Suzanne's Art House. I purchased the pattern from Pinewood Cottage, the quilt store in Story WY during Story Days. I used all fabrics from my stash. 

At last but not least is the Turkey banner from Patchabilities. This is also from my fabric scraps and I completed it last year, but really like him, so every year he gets hung up too. 

You can't tell here, but our living room walls are sage green and all this fall decor looks good in here! This space between our front hall closet ( to the right) and the stairway edge (to the left) always has a seasonal banner occupying it. 

So I have been busy and I have also read or listened to 13 books since the first of October and during the month of November I am going to work part time for my former employer while the Admin. Assistant is off on medical leave.  Whew!  When I list it all, it seems overwhelming. But you know my mantra:

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

So until next time, 

SB&SH

Friday 56 and another one in a series.

Below are the rules posted at Freda's Voice, sponsor of this Friday meme. I have only participated a few times, but it's a fun way to see what others are reading and to get a feel for each book. Hope you will click on over to Freda's blog and link up your Friday 56. 

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader

 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

page 56

Broken Dishes by Earlene Fowler

A Benni Harper Mystery  #11

"Oh, yes, " Hud said. " Benni and I are also dear old friends." He crossed his arms over his chest. " I should have realized if there was some kind of odd murder scene, you'd be involved."

This is number 11 in a 15 book series. It is one of my challenges in the Mega Mix Challenge in the Love of Reading group on Goodreads. I am hoping to finish that challenge before the end of the year. *fingers crossed*. 

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual Challenge from Beth Fish Reads

A couple of years ago I happened on the blogging world. Completely by accident I found my first blog,  Beth Fish Reads. I was so captivated by Beth's love of books and her ability to review books. It is something I struggled with then and still struggle with so I decided to participate in some of her challenges. I chose the Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual  Challenge because I had already read The Help by Kathryn Stockett and because it wasn't timed there would be no pressure. So I ordered 6 selections from her lists and began. I have fallen woefully behind, but have read some of the selections.

The following is a recent review from the 2013 list of Amy Einhorn Books.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cecelia, Tess and Rachael have part of their lives in common. Cecelia happens upon a letter written many years earlier by her husband and address to her to open if he dies. As she ponders whether to open in now, her husband is very much alive but away on business, her life unfolds around her. It intermingles with Rachael's life, at her daughter's elementary school. The PE teacher at the school grew up in the area, even dated Rachael's daughter, Janie. Tess grew up there too and is now home while she sorts out the news of her husband's affair with her cousin and best friend Felicity. Tangled webs are woven and must surely destroy lives. Or must they?  

I loved this book. Liane Moriarty's characters were very real to me. They experienced feelings that we all have experienced at one time or another. They know of guilt and anguish, of love and hate, of ambivalence and abhorrence. They are human.


This was also an ebook on my kindle, so it satisfies another challenge that I participate in. I originally decided to try to read 10 EBooks. I completed that level so the next level was 25, I may not make the goal. But I have a lot of books on my kindle and seem to keep downloading more!  You can participate too, though you might just want to wait and see if this challenge in sponsored again in 2014.  I will look for it. If you want to check it out, just go to Sarah's blog  Workaday Reads and see what everyone else is reading on their electronic device.

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy,

Sharing my love of books......audio that is!

The world can change forever in a single...

SPLIT SECOND

Michelle Maxwell has just wrecked her promising career at the Secret Service. Against her instincts, she let a presidential candidate out of her sight for the briefest moment, and the man whose safety was her responsibility vanished into thin air. Sean King knows how the younger agent feels. Eight years earlier, the hard-charging Secret Service agent allowed his attention to be diverted for a split second. And the candidate he was protecting was gunned down before his eyes. Now Michelle and Sean are about to see their destinies converge.

Drawn into a maze of lies, secrets, and deadly coincidences, the two discredited agents uncover a shocking truth: that the separate acts of violence that shattered their lives were really a long time in the making-and are a long way from over...

My thoughts:
Michelle Maxwell is a tough, strong and caring woman. She is an Olympic athlete, comes from a family of police officers and is out to prove she just as good as any man. She doesn't give up without a fight and she fights to the last breath. As the events unfold that look like the end of her career with the Secret Service, she decides to visit Sean King to see if she can figure out if the events that ended his career in the Secret Service are connected to hers. She instinctively feels that they are.

I like both these characters. This audio book was narrated by Scott Brick, and although he did all the voices, male and female, it was easy to follow. 

My husband and I listened to this together and we both have become David Baldacci fans. The plots are relatively easy to follow and much harder to figure out. I for one, did not have the villain in this one pegged til the very last minute. 

We are anxious to continue with the second book with King and Maxwell as the main characters. 

I really enjoy listening to an audio book. I can work on my hand stitching. While we listened to this one, I completed a block of the month stitchery that I was working on. Continued working on a Christmas project I started a couple of years ago, and put the hanger sleeve on my September stitchery block of the month. I will share pictures of those projects later this week. I am also working this month at my former employer. I have been away from there for 2 years but they needed help while an employee is on medical leave. Boy, it has been stretching my memory bank and I am tired. 

Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Friday 56 My Second Time.....The Year of Fog.

Freda's Voice says this is Week 151, but it only my 2nd time participating. Join us at Freda's Voice

to share your Friday 56

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader

 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Since it is 6:40 am and my DH is still sleeping, I will grab a book close at hand. Here goes.....

" No female child of Emma's approximate height is exempt from my curiosity and my hope. I wander up and down the hills of Noe Valley, peering into the faces of children on their bikes."

I read this book several years ago and it is still in my bookcase. I have tried to encourage others to read it, but when I tell them about it they are reluctant.  It is "gripping" "compulsively readable", but it also beautifully written and ultimately a story of hope and love. 

Until next time,

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.

Here are three of  new-to-me words from some of my recent reads. 

From Sunshine and Shadows by Earlene Fowler:  "Beebs and Millee recently signed up as docents at the folk art museum."

 docent  noun -    

     1.  in some American universities, a teacher or lecturer not on the regular faculty.

      2. a tour guide and lecturer; as at a museum. 

In this example, I am sure Earlene Fowler meant the second definition. I was pretty sure what it meant based on the usage, but I wasn't sure. 

From The Husband's Secret  by Liane Morarity, 

"Was she on her way over to spruik Tupperware?"

spruik  verb - 

   Austral archaic slang, to speak in public ( especially of a showman or salesman)

It was difficult to find this definition. I had to look in the "free dictionary". 

"One man tried to abseil out of his apartment window, and the firemen in West Berlin tried to catch him with a safety net, but he missed and died."

abseil  intrans verb - 

   to rappel :  to descent at the end of a rope. 

This one is German in origin. From the American Heritage Dictionary.    ab (down) + seil (rope)

This one was pretty easy to discern from the use in the sentence, but it was new to me. 

What about you, did you know any of these?  Did you find some new words in your recent reading? 

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy