Task it Tuesday - Aug 28

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 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.

This month has flown by. The Lil' Princess started school yesterday and the Lil' Diva will start on Thursday, so everyone will be getting back to their regular schedules soon.

As for me, I've been accomplishing a lot, even though there is still a lot to do. From last week's list, the only thing that remains undone is the writing of one book review. Not sure when I will post it, but hoping for by the weekend.

This week looks like this:

1. Clean my office. I really can't take the mess anymore. 
2. Write a book review.
3. Take listing photos on Thursday.
4. Oil change on Friday. 
5. Lunch with a friend on Friday.

I'm sure there are a million other things, but these are the pressing ones. What's on your to-do list?

Mailbox Monday - Aug 27

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.

Happy Monday! My baby started high school today. Yikes! Where did the time go. It was a full weekend of back to school activities at Wilbraham & Monson Academy. We feel so blessed to be able to give her this opportunity. On Thursday, the Lil' Diva returns to our local high school for her final year. Gosh, I feel so old right now.

Not a lot of reading going on right now, but a couple of authors sent me their books. 

I look forward to cracking these open soon. 

What did your mailbox look like? Anything you want to share?

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

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.

Yesterday was an emotional day. My in-laws' place is finally organized so that the clean up crew can come in and toss what needs to be tossed and bring to our place what is being kept. I found so-o-o-o many wonderful family photos and other mementos during the clean up process. It was hard to part with some of them, but there is only so much room at our place. Here are some of the special treasures I discovered on the last day:

My mother-in-law's parents (they died before I joined the family)

My hubby's newborn photo

Local magazines from the 1980s

My father-in-law's navy uniforms

I'm grateful for the blessing of being part of a wonderful family. 

Task it Tuesday - Aug 21

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 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.

Finally feeling like the sale is in the home stretch. Smoke certificate is done. City is coming to do the water reading. I finished going through the basement and the clean out guy started working there yesterday. The only thing from last week's to-do list that remains undone is cleaning out my office. I think it's just going to have to wait until I have everything here. Then I can move all the home files into the basement and only have active files upstairs.

So what's on this week's to-do list:

1. Meet the water department tomorrow. 
2. Take my mother-in-law for her haircut.
3. Make room in the basement for items coming here from the in-laws' house.
4. Touch base with two clients and see if we can't get their homes listed soon.
5. Do final back to school shopping. Haven't done much. The Lil' Princess starts next Monday and the Lil' Diva goes back next Thursday. 
6. Blogging at Christian Children's Authors.
7. Write two book reviews.

That list is definitely enough to keep me busy. What's on your list for this week?

Mailbox Monday - Aug 20

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.

We are back to Monday again. Things have been hectic here. Lots of real estate appointments and getting the bulk of the clean out done at the in-laws' place. Thankfully the house closes on August 27.

The family is thinking of taking an overnight trip to NYC soon as a present for the Lil' Diva's birthday. She loves the city. I'll take the Outer Banks.

Nothing in my mailbox last week, but just as well because I'm not getting a lot of reading done.

Hope you have a blessed week.

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - August 15

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.

Please join me in saying a prayer for one of the Lil' Princess' friends. She was born with a condition called NF2. She has developed benign tumors throughout her body requiring dozens of surgeries. She is scheduled for another major surgery today. May God's hands guide the doctors as they operate on this sweet girl.

God has certainly blessed us with plenty of vegetables from the garden this year. The carrots didn't make it, but everything else is coming along nicely and the potatoes should be ready by the end of the month.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Task it Tuesday - August 14

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 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.

Another week has passed and I feel like I spend a lot of time behind the eight ball. There's a lot going on, but working to stay focused. With God's grace it will all get done. Here's what's on my to-do list:

• Smoke certificate for the in-laws' place - To be done today.
• Go through the in-laws' basement - Planned for Friday
• Lunch with a friend - Planned for Friday late morning
• Meet clean out person at in-laws' place - Scheduled for Saturday morning
• Find my office - Maybe Sunday if I am not showing houses

What's on your to-do list? 

Mailbox Monday - Aug 13

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.

The Outer Banks has been very much on my mind this week, so the beach mailbox is back. We're already planning next year's vacation. I would actually love to go down in December if we could do it cheaply enough. Since the Lil' Princess will have several weeks off around Christmas, it would be a perfect time for us to get away. Guess we will have to wait and see what the Lil' Diva's work schedule looks like.

Speaking of the Lil' Diva--she turned 17 this weekend. There are days I wish I could turn back time and make her 5 again. She's already looking forward to college next year.

Here is what my mail carrier dropped off to me this week.

I've read the other books in the series and loved them. This will be a new author to me, so I hope I'll enjoy this installment of The Daughters of the Mayflower as well.

This is a poetry collection that I'll be reviewing at The Book Connection next week. 

This is another poetry collection with beautiful artwork. I think I'm reviewing this one in September. 

I'll be in Devens for a strategic planning event today, so I might be late visiting your blogs. I hope you'll share your mailbox with us. Have a blessed week.

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - Aug 8

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.

1. Building relationships is so important in life. Whether they are personal relationships or business relationships, so much is gained when you nurture them. 
2. Integrity matters. 
3. What would be nice to see in this world is a bit more self-control and a little less talk about people's rights. 
4. Rich Little is still alive and still acting. Wow! This is totally random, I realize, but I was thinking about Don Rickles, Bob Hope and other comedians from my childhood and thought maybe Rich Little had passed away, so I looked him up on the IMDB. Amazing. 

Task it Tuesday - Aug 7

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 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.

Here were the things from my last list:

• Schedule my blogs posts. I want to schedule them on Wednesday for the rest of the month. We will see how it goes. Didn't happen yet, but at least I am not behind right now. 
• Pack up items to donate when Hartsprings comes on August 2. I have three boxes so far. DONE
• Clean my office. I've been moving my in-laws' paperwork and filing cabinet into my tiny office and now I have too much stuff in here. Time to declutter. Partially done. Shredded things, put more things away, and I can see more of the floor now. Still need to get all the rest of their files into my filing cabinet and throw the old metal one away. It's in bad shape.

As for this week, the cleaning out at the in-laws' place must continue. It's due to close at the end of the month. This weekend some of the furniture is going. Today, I brought a few more things here and went through them. On Friday, assuming I can take a day off, I'll dig into the basement more. That's where most of the stuff is. 

What's on your to-do list this week?

Mailbox Monday - Aug 6

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.

Looks like Monday is back. That's a good thing, because I have some books to share.

Charlotte Hubbard's annual Christmas story is coming out. She was kind enough to send me a copy. I try never to miss any of her books. This one I will review when she tours with Goddess Fish.

I picked up the Fall in Love story collection earlier in the week. Many of my favorite authors of sweet romance are in it.

Then I grabbed this Kindle freebie on Sunday.

Other than that life is about working, gardening, and cleaning. Thank God for reading. Hope you had a nice mailbox.

Coming Soon! - Fall in Love Autumn Romance Collection

So excited that some of my favorite Christian authors have gotten together and released this sweet romance collection sure to get you in mood for fall.

BE SWEPT AWAY IN FIVE HEARTWARMING ROMANCES WITH AN AUTUMN FLAIR...

CAPTIVE AT SEA
Claire Mulvaney’s benevolent spirit has her biting off more than she can chew when she spearheads a charity fishing event to raise funds for Winding Ridge’s overcrowded animal shelter and is forced to call on fishing expert Sean Maguire.

Sean blames himself for his brother’s death. He spends his days in mourning and when Claire turns to him for help, he chases her off with gruff words meant to fortify his distance from the pain that has taken hold of his soul. But the enchanting woman with emerald eyes captivates, and Sean soon finds himself drawn to her warm-hearted enthusiasm.

NEVER THE TWAIN
Hollywood agent Cass Townsend makes a more-than-satisfactory living helping talented “wannabe” actors become stars.

Thanks to a twin brother who made it big in Hollywood and then estranged himself from his family, rugged Texas horse rancher Ryder Hayes sports oversized chips on both very broad shoulders toward celebrities. He’s not convinced any good at all can come out of Hollywood.

She’s prim and proper to a fault. He’s fun-loving, with a streak of pure mischief. Ryder’s a good man, but not a Christian—not by a Texas mile. Cass can’t remember missing a single Sunday service since childhood. They’re the epitome of polar opposites and never the twain shall meet…or so the saying goes.

FULLY COMMITTED
Receiving a Dear Rand email while serving his country didn’t douse the fire in Rand Tenneson’s heart for his high school sweetheart. Fully committed, nothing quenched that love, not even news that Bryanna married. Back home now, Rand enjoys a busy life, firefighting and clowning around with patients at the children’s hospital. But a chance run-in with his ex-girlfriend, now a widow, rekindles that spark. God put her back in his life for a reason, and he vows to be there for her.

Ten years ago, Bryanna Fenwick shattered two hearts, hers and Rand’s. But the Navy SEAL, deployed across the world, couldn’t rescue her from the real fear she faced at home. She made a choice and lived the lie for a decade. When Rand discovers the truth, she fears she’s hurt the handsome firefighter yet again and destroyed her relationship with her daughter. Can God’s grace overcome such a ginormous lie? Has He brought them back together for a second chance at love or only to reveal the truth?

WITHOUT A SONG
Still reeling from the loss of her husband, young widow Roni Marsden resolves to be strong for her precocious daughter. Invited to stay on the cleansing hills of her friend’s Nebraska ranch, she tries to figure out the next step. Should she leave Norfolk? Could she find work?

Songwriter Dawson Bennett returns home to his brother’s ranch when the production company for his first album goes bust. He searches his heart for new songs he's unable to write. Even as he seeks direction for his career, he attempts to mend the past with his elderly father. Back in high school, Dawson had crushed on the lovely Roni when she dated his brother. Those emotions are reawakened when he discovers Roni and her daughter at the ranch. Protective feelings for the child, as well as for a stray pup that arrives on the scene, work together to soften his bitterness. Will these connections enable him to write lyrics that honor God?

AUTUMN LOVES
Two years after her husband’s tragic death, middle-aged widow Rylie Thornton struggles to raise her three sons while keeping the family business in the black. As the lush colors of her favorite season display, she finds herself struggling.

Heart surgeon Micah Haden, on a rare break from his demanding profession, finds his sister’s friend a lovely mystery. He’s happy to help Rylie and her boys prepare for an upcoming autumn event. Why can’t she accept his offer with a little more grace? Is there a chance he could become one of Rylie's treasured Autumn Loves?

File Size: 2195 KB
Print Length: 519 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Sweet Dreams Publications (August 7, 2018)
Publication Date: August 7, 2018
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B07FB3VNV3

Pre-order now! Releases August 7th!!!!

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts - Aug 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 a bit behind the eight ball this week. Several real estate calls took yesterday in a different direction than planned. Monday was already hectic. I'm hoping the next two days are a bit slower. In a nutshell, here are a few life blurbs:

• No new books arrived, but some other good stuff came in which I'll share later in the week.
• Got one of my properties under contract and signed up two new buyers.
• Furniture is getting moved out of the in-laws' place this weekend. After that the final clean up begins. 
• Cleaned out my pantry yesterday and it feels so great. First step in getting this house together. 

That's it from me. What's going on in your world?

Just Requested for Review from Tyndale Blog Network

I am a reviewer for the Tyndale Blog Network. Here are two titles I recently requested for review.

The news is filled with stories of violence, division, and despair. American politics have become polarized. Effective leadership is in short supply. Change may seem outside our reach. And Christians struggle to understand their role in reversing the downward spiral of our nation.

Dr. Tony Evans offers a healthy dose of hope: the solution to our nation’s problems and unrest isn’t out of reach. The solution is here—and each one of us as Kingdom Citizens has a vital role to play.

Be assured that our God is greater than any challenge—and He has promised to equip His people. In Kingdom Citizen, you’ll discover how to respond in faith, in spite of a country and culture in decline.

Here is a powerful call to action for concerned Christians. Here is a call for unity and restoration. And here is strong assurance that each of us has the ability to walk justly, to seek truth, and to stand in the gap for our land.

Help, hope, and spiritual strength for the mom in the trenches.

Moms today have a lot to handle! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of raising a family, especially in a culture that’s spiraling away from Christianity at an alarming speed. Yet our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The battle belongs to him, and his strength shines bright when we bring our weaknesses to Him and simply say, “Here. I can’t, but You can.”

Prayers for the Battlefield is a collection of prayers and reflections to help you stay strong through the daily challenges of motherhood. Whether you’re a new mom or a soon-to-be empty nester, Heidi St. John writes Scripture-filled and Spirit-infused prayers for every season of motherhood, helping you raise God-fearing children who will live out their love for Christ and make a difference in our world.

Let God determine the outcome of the battles you’re facing today—because the ultimate victory belongs to him.

Do either of these titles seem of interest to you?