No Trisha and Unfinished Person—the bookshelves aren’t freaking done yet. Happy?! :)
Ha! Ok, the bookshelves are *mostly* done—as in all of my unread books are happily organized; it’s the “read” shelf that has been driving me batty. I pulled off a number of books to store in a bin under a bed. And then I pulled off a number of books that I don’t have a lot of interest in keeping. And then there’s Scott’s shelf, which is full of textbooks that are terribly outdated. I have contemplated removing a few here and there to see if he notices, but I’m too chicken. Yes, I’ve asked and I typically get the response: “If you get rid of all of your books, I’ll get rid of all of mine.” So…until I can tackle that one “read” shelf, I can’t consider my Great Shelf Reorganization complete.
Plus I know that several of you take great pleasure in the fact that my shelves are so chaotic. So, why deprive you of that? ;)
Anyway, since I didn’t manage to finish a paper book in February (yes, if you’re wondering it has been since January 2nd), I’ve decided to make a goal to finish at least ONE stinkin’ book this month. I mean for goodness sakes, I only have twenty pages left in Love in the Time of Cholera. I’m about half way through The Kitchen Counter Cooking School and I have made zero progress on What Mothers Do. Bah.
But I do plan to partake in some Bookish Fun this month! Less you all start thinking I’ve turned into a food blogger (cooking seems to be the one thing I CAN do lately—and spend time with Scott at the same time).
First—the Cloud Atlas Readalong! Hosted by Book Club Care and Avid Reader Melissa. Hurrah!! Please feel free to join us! You only have to read 15 pages a day!
Second—Christina is hosting March Mystery Madness and I am determined to pull that big Sherlock Holmes compilation off my shelf.
Third –Bloggiesta, now hosted by Suey, is back! I’ve never actually had a chance to participate before, but I’m hoping that I can steal a few hours away sometime on March 30, 31 or April 1 to do a bit of much needed updating (anyone else notice the big nasty black exclamation point on older posts where my signature disappeared?!).
Now for the fun part! I’ve pulled off several books from the shelves that need new homes and I thought I’d offer them up to you first! I don’t know how many recipients I pick—guess it just depends on my mood and how much interest there is. Last time I ended up giving everyone who spoke up two books. And I’m sorry—I love you—but I can’t afford to ship anything overseas right now. Most are read, which means that my signature is in the front cover. Hope you don't mind!
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**Picture no longer matches list as some books have been spoken for**
Olivia Jules - Helen Fielding
One True Thing - Anna Quindlen
Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
A Redbird Christmas = Fannie Flagg
Little Alters Everywhere - Rebecca Wells
The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not - Trish Ryan (unread)
Ya-Yas in Bloom - Rebecca Wells
One Rule. You must have left me at least two comments before you may enter (just any time ever). If you must go and find two posts to comment on, fine, but I will also evaluate whether you have really made an effort or not. I know…terrible Trish. I only have the best intentions—I promise. Otherwise just let me know which books interest you.
Sooooo, that’s it for me! I don’t know yet what I’ll be doing today. Hopefully whipping up something in the crockpot. Hopefully not any heavy cleaning. Hopefully some time at the park with that chickpea banana.
On the Blog:
Looking Back to Last Week
I'm kind of too lazy to figure out when the last time I did a Sunday Salon was and how many posts I did between then. Definitely check out Operation Crockpot Part 1 and Operation Crockpot Part 2 as well as Going au Natural in March. No, I'm not trying to turn into a foodie blogger (but if you want to send me cookbooks to review, I'd be game!!!). ;)
On Chickpea Banana
Ten Month Update!
Looking Forward to Next Week
Hmmmm. Wordless Wednesday. Update on "Eat it Real" challenge on Friday. Hopefully other things too. ;)
What’s going on with you today? Reading anything fantastic? Or more importantly—cooked up anything fantastic in the crockpot recently? Ha!
What do you mean, the big exclamation point for your signature? I see your signature both in Reader and on the post itself? And I always do. I've never seen the exclamation point?
ReplyDeleteI did all my bloggiesta stuff at the beginning of the year, and since the event is smackdab in the middle of my cruise, it's not going to happen for me this year! Ah well. I love the event though and glad Suey's taking it back over.
No need to enter me in the contest. :)
If I ever said anything to you about cleaning up your bookshelves, I'm sorry. Truly. I have no room to talk. My own are a horrible mess as my wife can attest. Also when did I say this? How many years ago was this? ;) Oh, wait, January, right...but I did admit my own faults then too: "That said, I need to practice what I preach...as I have boxes of books in my office too." Spring cleaning? Um, yeah, right, that's when I'll do it.
ReplyDeleteYou're reading Love In The Time Of Cholera and you're beating yourself up for not finishing a paper book? Really? To me, reading even part of that is quite a task in itself...congratulations on that.
Oh, one last thing: please don't enter me in your contest. After all, the last thing I need is MORE books. *Sigh*
*amanda - The signature got deleted from older posts--I've fixed for ones this past week. Can't wait to hear about your cruise!
ReplyDelete*Unfinished - Oh, I tease you as much as you tease me. Remember the post when I put in teeeeeeeny tiny letters that my shelves weren't done and you called me out? ;) I just need to finish up those damn 20 pages. I mean really--it's ridiculous not to!
Hey, Trish? The pile of books in the photo does not match (the second half or so, anyway) the list of books you mention ...
ReplyDeleteWord Lily - Sorry about that Hannah--I posted this picture on FB last night and some of the books were spoken for--was there one you wanted that isn't on the list?
DeleteNo worries, I was just confused. I'm guessing Al Capone Does My Shirts is spoken for. :p I'm also interested in Nickel and Dimed.
DeleteWe have the terribly outdate textbooks problem too! My husband just swears that he will need them for reference at some point. He's been working in his profession now for 9 years and has yet to crack a single one of his books. Gah! We even moved them with us to Scotland!
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad about your lack of reading. When my kids were little, I felt really glad if I finished a book a month. Especially if you're working, it's tough to find time to fit it all in.
Obviously I'm overseas so no need to add me to the mix for the books. It feels good to give them away, doesn't it? I love purging books that I know I won't reread. It makes me happy that someone else can enjoy them.
Enjoy your Sunday and I hope the bread turns out well. I meant to tell you that I've also made it with all wheat flour instead of that small amount of regular flour. It works fine either way.
I totally understand having twenty pages left in Cholera and no desire to read it. Not a big fan of that book at all. I can't figure out the hype.
ReplyDeleteNo need to enter me. Lord knows I have plenty to read.
(And Sherlock is on my list for MMM too!)
Cheerio!
I made one of our favourites, Irish Stew, in the crockpot last week. I'm going to do some kind of new stew this week. I'm trying to learn to use the crockpot more often now.
ReplyDeleteI have to go look at the March Mystery Madness challenge now. I didn't read any in Feb, and I'm missing them!
I need to redo my shelves too. Whenever we move, some of my husband's things get "lost." So far, he hasn't caught on.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to go check out March Mystery Madness, although I've just, finally, checked my calendar and find I have three books to read for review this month and one for book club. Not really sure when I'm going to work in more books!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Bloggiesta! I need to get my reviews by authors updated.
ReplyDeleteOrganized bookshelves? Is there such a thing??! LOL. I try, really, but I can't seem to keep my reading life organized and so far 2012 has been the most disorganized I've been in my reading (I am blaming it on the quilt obsession which eats up most of my time now!). I hope to do a little Bloggiesta as well - my blog needs cleaning up and I never get to it. *sighs* Never enough time to do anything!!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week, Trish!
p.s. No need to enter me in the giveaway - I think I have more than enough to read these days *laughs*
Awww man, I totally cannot in good conscience bring more books into this hotel room. But *someday* I must find a way to get myself a book with a Trish signature in it!!! :)
ReplyDeleteWhatever you decide to do today, I hope you enjoy it!!!
I'm trying to squeeze in as much reading as possible before the arrival of baby #2. Those babies! Sure do take up lots of time, huh? I think it's great that you are working and spending so much time cooking nutritious food, and I love reading about your cooking adventures just as much as what bookish thoughts you are having.
ReplyDeleteI think the Helen Fielding book looks fun. I haven't read her Bridget Jones books, but I know you enjoyed them!
P.S. I do hope you get to go to the park with that baby today--SO beautiful outside!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday, Trish! Good luck with Cloud Atlas and Sherlock Holmes. I'd actually like to read some Sherlock Holmes this month, too. (Also, I totally wouldn't mind if you became a cooking blog!) Today, we took a cook book from work (Fix, Freeze, Feast) and made a bunch of meals out of it to freeze. Hopefully this week we'll be feasting! I'll let you know how the recipes actually taste before I recommend the book to you, but there were a ton of great ideas in there. I'm excited to not really have to do too much cooking this week.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about those bookshelves! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love how you broke down the daily page quota for Cloud Atlas. :-) I hope you're able to get a book finished this month.
What? No pictures of the baby today? ;-)
Clearing and organising bookshelves is one chore which I wouldn't mind taking, hehe.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading, Trish, and I hope you all have a great week ahead!! :)
I'm on page 26 of Cloud Atlas. I would've read more this afternoon, but it put me to sleep. For two hours! I hope this isn't a trend for the rest of the book.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying your food posts, and I can't wait for updates about the project you and your hubby have taken on.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in Ya-Yas in Bloom if it's not already spoken for. :)
Ha! Bookshelves be dam..er..bedazzled. I haven't touched mine since the first two weeks of January. Perhaps in the summer....
ReplyDeleteUggggh, I really should participate in the Bloggiesta this time around. I'm so behind on monthly updates - a year behind to be exact. I also need to update a whole bunch of other things too. That's a great list of books up for grabs.
ReplyDelete*Kristi - LOL! I think I would have put up some serious fight before transporting all those textbooks across seas! Maybe some will get lost on the way home? ;) And with the bread--not sure where I went wrong. Tastes great but didn't really rise so is a big brick. Still have two more loaves in the freezer that I let rise outside of a pan so maybe those will turn out better? If not, I'll just try again. Ha!
ReplyDelete*Christina - We also wondered in book club why Love in the Time has perservered so many years! Can't wait for Sherlock!
*Susan - Irish Stew!! Sounds delicious. Did you use Guinness? We make an Irish stew, but I've never tried it in the crockpot--not sure how much time I'd add? Hope you'll join the March Mystery Madness!
*bermudaonion - I'm SO tempted to "move" some of his books...just one or two at a time. I've even gotten rid of some of MY textbooks just to say "see...I did it too" but he wasn't having it. Ha! ;)
*Lisa - Wait--where did these review books come from?! ;) I thought you were slowing down on them. Maybe just a few short stories for March Mystery Madness? Will be fun!
*Nise' - I'm excited for Bloggiesta, too!
*Wendy - I hear what you're screaming about not having enough time to do everything you want! I hate the response people give that they "make time" but it still means that something else is getting left undone. I was tempted to get up at 5:30 this morning to do a little sewing! But sleep won. ;)
*Debi - Hmmm, I'll have to see if there's a Trish signature book on my shelf that you might like. One day I'm sure you'll have a beautiful library.
*Laura - I'm hoping that eventually all this cooking will pay off! I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce in the crockpot yesterday--hopefully will give me three meals (most will go in the freezer). It is exhausting, though! And I'll give you the Olivia Jules book next tiem I see you. :) Not awardwinning but fun.
ReplyDelete*Lu @ Regular Rumination - Hope you'll join for a little bit of March Mystery Madness! I've never read anything by Doyle before. And thanks about the blogging--cooking seems to be the only thing that I can do these days... Fix, Freeze, Feast sounds amazing and I can't wait to hear what you think. If you ever stumble upon a Cookbook that you need someone to review, give me a shout. ;)
*Vasilly - When I was reading more regularly I used to figure out how many pages I wanted to try to read a day. 15 pages seems so much more manageable than a 500 page book in a month. How times have changed...
*Melody - Come visit and you can organize my shelves for me. ;) They're actually in good shape--it's all the clutter around them!
*softdrink - Those girls (Care, Melissa, and Kristi) keep telling me it gets better--hopefully the first 40 pages are the dullest (though why would someone start a book that way?!)
*Anna - I'll put you down for Ya-yas in Bloom. Will let you know when things are final. And thanks about the cooking--everything else is too much to focus on these days. ;)
*Trisha - LOL!! You think it's hard now with that beautiful Madinut. Just wait until she wants to get into EVERYTHING. And EAT all of your books...
*Darlene - Those blogging chores add up so quickly, don't they? Would be fun if we can participate together.
Sorry the bread didn't work out. Sometimes it takes a while for it to rise depending on the weather. It should double in size in the loaf pans before you bake it. It helps sometimes if you cover it with a towel and put it in the oven (not turned on) just to keep it a little warmer if your house is cool. I have trouble getting mine to rise here in Scotland during the winter, but in California, I never had any trouble. Hope it turns out better the second time around.
ReplyDeleteKristi - Bahaha--not enough yeast! ;) No wonder the bread didn't rise.
DeleteAlmost is good enough (re: the bookshelf reorganization being nearly done). :-) When I was going through all our books, I found a lot of outdated text books too. I don't know what we were thinking saving them, given we had to have known they'd eventually be out of date . . .
ReplyDeleteIf last month had been March, I would have done really well in keeping up with my mystery reading. LOL This month I'm devoting to a nonfiction book--it'll probably take me the entire month to get through it. I will say though that I am enjoying the biography very much. It's not my usual reading fare, but it's so good!
I love your rule about having left two comments before signing up for one of the books you are giving away! I will have to remember that one.
Have a great week, Trish!
Lit Feline - I look forward to seeing what kinds of non-fiction you're reading this month!
DeleteI will be curious to see how you like Cloud Atlas. I am in the middle of reading his Black Swan Green. I am liking it so far. However, I am also in the middle of The Poisonwood Bible, and What Mothers Do, and The Holocaust Diaries. I have noticed that it is also been since January since I have finished a book as well. Oy. So many things to do, not enough time. I have decided to cut my screentime. (TV, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc) to only about 30 minutes a day. We will see how that goes. Again, I am in the mode of simplify.
ReplyDeleteWe are moving to Phoenix, so I am clearing out all my shelves right now. Luckily we don't have a time frame yet (could be one month, could be three months) so I am taking my own sweet time and getting rid of A LOT of books that have been collecting dust. Makes a difference when you have to haul things 1000 miles away. Suddenly it is easier to say you can live without something. I am actually looking forward to purging a lof of things. The toys, my goodness! How they multiply!
Michelle - I can't believe you're moving to Phoenix. Though--it is a closer drive for us? ;)
DeleteLiking Cloud Atlas so far. Very intriguing. xoxo
Orgainizing and re-organizing my bookshelves at least once a year is something I obssess over. With Gage running around like a crazy man most of the time it will be a challenge this year!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited you'll be joining us for Bloggiesta, even if it's just for a few hours here and there. That totally works!
ReplyDeleteMarch Mystery Madness??? I must check this out! I'm super excited for Bloggiesta as well. I DESPERATELY need to clean up my blog roll. I still have your old blog on their for goodness sake!
ReplyDeleteBlogiesta is a great idea...lord knows I need time to clean up the blog and the email, aoh and the reader. I think I just made myself sad :(
ReplyDeleteAnyways you have some really fab plans for March Trish.
*Stacybuckeye - LOL! I can't imagine trying to organize with a toddler running around. It's hard enough with a crazy crawling baby! ;)
ReplyDelete*Suey - I so look forward to the Bloggiesta! It'll also be good for daddy/daughter time. :)
*Samantha - You need to delete Trish's Reading nook!! I've actually been toying with the idea of deleting the blog but not sure if I'll lose my imported posts. Hope you'll join March Mystery Madness!
*Jenny Girl - I know what you mean about being overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning up the blog, reader, and email. It all adds up so quickly, huh?!