Task It Tuesday - February 27

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

We are back from vacation--more on that soon. It was nice to go away, but it's also great to be home. I managed to get some reading done on vacation and feel more ahead of schedule with reviews, so that's a plus. Came back home sick as a dog, so not a lot has happened since Sunday.

This week I have only one task on the list: clean the first floor living areas. They are overdue and I need to dust, vacuum, and wash the floors.

How about you? What is on your to-do list this week?

Task It Tuesday - February 20

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Only one thing on my to-do list this week: finish reading the three books I have coming up for review.

Anything you're looking to accomplish this week? Share it with us.

Mailbox Monday - February 19

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Hope you had a nice weekend. We are enjoying our vacation and our mailbox is not close by. I am getting some reading done, but we will talk about that when I get back. Farmers' Almanac predicted some cold weather in the Northeast. I hope it was wrong.

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - Febr 12

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. This is a chance for book bloggers to dabble in areas besides books (but those are welcome too). Share your plans for the weekend, a rant on people not using their turn signals in parking lots, or your love of Sunday morning mimosas.

Has anyone watched the TV series The Exorcist? Like William Peter Blatty's novel that it is based on, this series is about exorcists facing demons. In the first season, we meet Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) and ex-communicated Father Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels), who work together to exorcise a demon from Casey Rance (Hannah Kasulka). In Season 2, Father Tomas and Marcus have been sent away for their protection and to continue their work. They discover an island off the coast of Seattle where strange happenings occur.

One interesting aspect about this series is a conspiracy within the Catholic church. People are looking to exterminate or "convert" the remaining exorcists. The Church has been infiltrated and not everyone is who you think they might be. 

While not a fan of the gore, spiritual warfare fascinates me. There is true evil in this world and we must fight against it. We face the devil and his temptations every day. That's why I am hoping The Exorcist is picked up for a third season now Disney has bought Fox. Seems it has struggled for an audience and this type of show isn't exactly Disney material. If it isn't, I hope they will at least give the show a proper send off with a TV movie to wrap up some loose ends.

Have you ever seen this show? What did you think of it?

Task it Tuesday - February 13

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

I am such a failure at this. LOL! Life--and work--keeps getting in the way. The good thing is that not getting them done has allowed me to remove them from my list in order to give me two new to-do items:

1. Pack for vacation. We are leaving Thursday. House sitter and pet sitter for the pooch are all set. I'll let  you guess where we are going, but it will be much warmer than it is here.
2. Get some reading done. Long plane ride, so this should be easy.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week. 

Mailbox Monday - February 12

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Here we are back to Monday again. Hope you had a great week. We are gearing up for school vacation week next week. I'll be taking some time off to spend with the girls, so I probably won't be blogging.

As for last week, got some reading done. Check out my reviews of Abuse of Discretion by Pamela Samuels Young and Patrick Turns His Play into Pay by Shani and Patrick Muhammad. Next up will be Revision is a Process – How to Take the Frustration Out of Self-Editing by Catherine E. McLean and The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo.

As for my tiny little mailbox, I received two books last week:

For Leah Otto, marrying Jude Shetler is a long-held dream come true. As a young girl, she was captivated by his good looks and talent as an auctioneer. When Jude, now a widower with three children, begins to court her, Leah doesn’t hesitate. Other men may not appreciate her tomboy ways, but Jude values Leah’s practical nature and her skill with the animals she tends, and both enter the marriage with joy and optimism.

Three months later, Leah feels as if her world is coming down around her. Her twin teenage step-daughters, Alice and Adeline, are pushing boundaries and taking far too many risks, while five-year-old Stevie deeply misses his mother. Leah, more at ease in a barn tending her goats and chickens than in a kitchen, struggles with her housekeeping duties.

Then a baby is abandoned on their doorstep, and Leah must search her soul. Caring for little Betsy fills her with renewed purpose and the strength to begin pulling her family together. With Jude’s steadfast support, Leah finds that what she once thought of as a happy ending may be something even better—the beginning of a life rich in love, faith, and unexpected blessings.

Patrick Turns His Play Into Pay is a picture book, based on a true story. It details the journey of an entrepreneur, Patrick Muhammad through the eyes of a child. The book uses illustrations that are vivid and lively words, to explain the road little Patrick took to the world of entrepreneurship. This book shows the reader how Patrick turned his passion of baking into a full-fledged business for himself. This book plants an entrepreneurial seed in today’s youth and demonstrates how their passion can someday become their profession.

How about you? What was in your mailbox? Hope you have a blessed week.

Task It Tuesday - February 6

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Hope you fared better than I. While I made a bit of progress with last week's tasks, they remain mostly undone. Here were my goals:

1. Finish cleaning out the cookbook cabinet I started on Sunday. Go through the rest of the recipes and toss what I don't want and organize the cookbooks and baking accessories.
2. Make more headway on the Bonus Room clean up. My goal is to have all the trash gone and toys tucked where they belong. Then we can began the challenging task of donating what we no longer want. 

I'm really beginning to think I should just go through the recipes and toss everything in there except what I regularly make. What do you think of that idea? 

Even though I am leaving the above two on my list--with no intention of getting to the second item unless a miracle happens--I want to add one more thing of importance: finish all the paperwork for my father-in-law's application for the solider's home and MA Health. Needs to get done. The bills are piling up like crazy. 

If you want to join along, leave us a comment below as to what you're working on with a link to your blog post. 

Mailbox Monday - February 5

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Thankfully, January is over. By February I can really begin to think spring--even if that silly groundhog saw his shadow.

It was a busy week for me: lots of blogging, a bit of reading, negotiating offers, and listing a new property. On top of all the family stuff, of course.

Bought tickets for the girls to see Fall Out Boy in concert this summer. That should be a fun show. Do you listen to them at all? I don't mind them.

I'm trying to figure out what I should buy for a new car--well, new to me anyway. Old Reliable really needs a rest. He's been good for over 13 years. It's time to put him out to pasture.

As far as my mailbox goes, I received one book I've been waiting on...

One hundred years after her mother's family came to the New World on the Mayflower, Maribel Cordova has landed in New Orleans to seek the man who holds the key to finding her father’s lost treasure. Attorney Jean-Luc Valmot has buried his past life so deep that no living person will ever find it—or so he hopes as he accepts a position on the governor’s staff. But the daughter of an infamous pirate threatens all he holds dear. Can Maribel and Jean-Luc compromise so they both can hold onto what they most desire?

I read the first book in The Daughters of the Mayflower series, The Mayflower Bride by Kimberely Woodhouse. Great book. I'm eager to start on the new one, but it might need to wait until school vacation week.

That's it from me. Hope you all have a blessed week.

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - Feb 1

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. This is a chance for book bloggers to dabble in areas besides books (but those are welcome too). Share your plans for the weekend, a rant on people not using their turn signals in parking lots, or your love of Sunday morning mimosas.

I'm just going to ramble today, so be forewarned.

1. I'm tired. I'm so tired of being tired that it makes me more tired. I want to hide away and sleep for a week straight.
2. If I hear the word *hore one more time, I might rip off my ears.
3. There are days I feel like leaving home; then my kids do something sweet and it reminds me why I am here.
4. Why can't everything be free? I don't want to work. I love my job, but I would rather just sit here and read, blog or write all day.
5. Is it summer yet?

Done rambling. Enjoy the rest of your week.