You've Got Mail Monday

The Lil' Diva starts golf camp today. She had her first golf lesson with her dad last Monday, and since this is the only sport other than cheerleading she has expressed an interest in, I thought it would be good to sign her up for a camp this summer.

The post office finally delivered all our accumulated mail from vacation. Less than I expected, but filled with catalogs from L.L. Bean, One Hanes Place, Land's End, Gardener's Supply Company (they have a Hot Summer Sale going on), and the birthday catalog from Oriental Trading.

My July/August edition of the AAA Times was in our mailbox. The headlines read, "10 great spots to set up camp" and "Theme parks add new attractions." There was also this neat little newspaper type magazine titled Articles from Old News.  It says it covers historical topics ranging in time from the fifth century B.C. to the 1960s. Sounds right up my alley, but not sure how it was sent to me.  A six issue subscription is only $17 so I might give it a try.

The only book that arrived was Traveling for Love by Becky Due. I'm reviewing it Wednesday at The Book Connection.

That's it for this week's edition of You've Got Mail Monday. Hope you have a great week.

You've Got Mail Monday

Yes, it's Tuesday, but with this week's Muse Online Writers Conference and next weekend's conference coming up, I'm slower about blogging lately.

The mailman has been bringing all kinds of presents to me lately. Catalogs from Land's End, Gardener's Supply Company, and Oriental Trading have arrived over the past two weeks. My AAA Times newspaper came in. There is an article about taking an autumn visit to Sturbridge. I don't feel I have to go that far for some great fall pictures. Just driving up the mountain or walking through the woods behind our house is fun for me. The article on ghost tours, however, made me want to discover some history and heritage. My Fall 2012 issue of Gardening How-to also arrived last week.

I ordered some cold climate cover crop mix from Burpee recently. I figure instead of taking the raised beds apart, I would grow this over the winter. It should help improve the soil, so I'm all for it. It will also, however, probably attract deer and all sorts of critters I don't want in the garden. Anyone know?

As for books, I've received several. I'll be reviewing:

A Catholic Mother's Companion to Pregnancy: Walking with Mary from Conception to Baptism by Sarah A. Reinhard

What Did Jesus Say: The Seven Messages from the Master by Rev. Terry Allan Christian

Last of the Seals by Greg Messel

I won American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar, which sounds fabulous. Bloomsbury sent me a copy of Dark Lord: The Early Years by Jamie Thomson. The girls thought it sounded hilarious, so we'll be reading this one at some point.

What else has been keeping me busy these days? Performing a little bit more research for the elementary historical I am ghostwriting. The first draft is already done. I'm in the middle of edits and adding in some historical details to make it more interesting.

Soccer and cheerleading continue. The Lil Diva (11) attended a cheerleading exhibition at Quabbin Regional High School in Barre, MA on Saturday. Tons of fun, but very loud.

Both girls' seasons end around the first week of November, so things will calm down here for a bit before the holidays arrive.

Hope you're having a great week.

You've Got Mail Mondays

After two weeks away from home, the table was filled with piles of mail. Some of it made its way quickly into the recycle bin. There were, however, several items of interest.

An offer to try a free sample issue of Discovery Girls. This magazine helps connect tween girls with other girls and offers tips on how to handle life's ups and downs.  It looks like it might be a good magazine for the girls, so I sent away for the free issue. If we agree to subscribe, we'll get another 6 issues for only $19.95.

A donation request came in from Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society. I'll pass this along to the hubby. We have gotten our last four cats from Dakin, so we like to support them.

In an envelope from Suzanne Woods Fisher, I received postcards and bookmarks to help promote her upcoming release. I agreed to do this as part of a contest, but I would have done it anyway. I love her work. Her upcoming book, The Haven, is available for pre-order right now.

On the book front, I received some books that I had won from blog giveaways and two I agreed to review. I won Homefront Hero by Allie Pleiter and The Exceptionals by Erin Cashman. From the Amazon Vine Program, I requested Personal Branding for Dummies. I'll review that on their website. I'm also reviewing, 5 Easy Steps to Financial Freedom by Duane Harden in August at The Book Connection. We'll be offering a giveaway for this book here on August 17th.

Several catalogs made their way here too--one of which I haven't seen in a while. Harriet Carter® is a catalog I used to get all the time when I lived in my old apartment. I haven't seen it much since we moved here. They have neat gadgets and gifts. Macy's is having a Home Sale that runs from Wednesday, July 18th - Sunday, July 22nd. The front cover offered an extra 15% Off on select sale and clearance home items, so I might stop in. We could use new curtains for our bedroom. I had bought some to match our old comforter, but when we changed our bedding, the curtains never got updated and they don't match well.

Gardener's Supply Company is running a Summer Sale with savings up to 81% on more than 215 products. I'll definitely be browsing their site to see what I can find to bring me through the end of the growing season and into next year. Land's End sent two catalogs--one for limited quantity sale items and the other with backpacks, lunch bags and back-to-school clothes. Ugh, hard to think about that time of year when we're enjoying summer. I might be looking for new lunch bags for the girls this year. We bought Packits® last year. They are great, but they are heavy, so the little one doesn't use hers that much. They were perfect, however, for our trip down south and back home. It kept the Lil Diva's (10) and Lil Princess' (8) snacks and drinks cold during the car ride. Just in time for the Lil Diva's birthday, the Oriental Trading® Birthday catalog arrived. I'm not sure which theme she wants this year, but they have tons of party favors.

Last, but not least, the July/August issue of the AAA Times arrived. I think I've been a AAA member for around 20 years. They help us with roadside assistance and travel information. They coordinated our Disney trip last year. I like that I can get discounts on hotel stays and car rentals when necessary.

Phew, that's a lot of mail. Now that we're back home, we're trying to catch up on everything we missed. I'll be posting some product reviews soon. I'll also be implementing a new feature in the not so distant future and deciding about domain names.

Hope you have a great week!

You've Got Mail Mondays!

This is a take on Mailbox Mondays, which was started by some smart and innovative blogger many moons ago--and I don't know who that was. My hope is that we'll be seeing a lot more products coming through than books (though I love books too). I'm also not going to just talk about books or products that come in the mail. I might mention catalogs or newspapers that might have articles of interest. I hope you'll give me feedback on this new feature, as I truly want this to be a place you enjoy visiting.

On the books front, I received:

• Promise of the Night by Michaela MacColl. This is a middle grade historical--a market I am writing for now--but I won't be reviewing this book. It is for a giveaway I am running at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection on January 26th.
• Lonestar Angel by Colleen Coble. I ordered this one to review through the Amazon Vine program. I read Coble's The Lightkeeper's Daughter and have been hoping to read more from her. Though I'm not usually one for kidnapped baby stories, this one sounds fabulous, so I thought I would give it a whirl.
• Popular Clone by M.E. Castle. My oldest daughter (the Lil Diva) loves science. I tried to get this book through the Amazon Vine program, but they were out of stock. This copy was sent by Egmont USA unsolicited. I was thrilled, and the Lil Diva said it sounded like her kind of book.
• I also requested The Innkeeper by John Piper from the Amazon Vine program. Keeping in the Christmas spirit, this story celebrates Christ's birth and the power of His resurrection. Two weeks before His Crucifixion, Jesus visits the innkeeper who made a place for Mary and Joseph on the night of His miraculous birth. I can't wait to read this one!

Also in the mail this week came a late Christmas/birthday present for my daughter-in-law. Her birthday is the 28th, so we usually wrap up everything on Christmas day. With being sick I was running behind, and there was a short delay in getting this to us.

This is the Mighty Bright XtraFlex2 Clip-On Light for her Kindle. Our son bought her a Kindle Touch for Christmas, so we thought she would enjoy this. I'll have to see how she likes it and report back on it. Personally, I'm thrilled reading at night is no longer an issue for me thanks to the Kindle Fire Santa brought.

The AAA Times arrived so that we can get started planning our 2012 vacation. This is the newspaper put out by AAA for its members. Not only does it talk about their vacation packages--which we took advantage of last summer for our Disney trip--but it also updates members on other AAA news and offers informative articles.

In this issue, it discusses how RMV services will now be available at their West Springfield branch. Thank God, because budget cuts have forced some of our full and express service RMV branches to close. I don't visit the RMV often, but when I do I don't want to wait in line forever. They now offer AAA driver education at Chicopee Comprehensive High School. There's a fabulous article titled, "5 Ways to Maintain Your Health and Save," an article on Philadelphia, a front page article titled, "Celebrate the Wonders of Winter," that highlights different winter festivals, and an article about the dangers of driving while drowsy.

On Thursdays, the mailman delivers our weekly copy of The Wilbraham-Hampden Times. This is our local paper published by Turley Publications.  The front page, as usual for the end of the year, published photos from the top stories. What tops the list this year? The June 1st tornado--the likes of which hasn't been seen in our area for around 50 years. Though it might seem hard to believe, some families are still picking up the pieces from that mess. Why is that you may ask? Well, it could be thanks to the next two top stories: the October storm that traveled up the Northeast coast, blanketing our area with over a foot of snow and leaving many without power for a week or more, and the July microburst from July 27th, that damaged some of the same areas hardest hit by the June tornado.

What was nice to see is that two of our neighbors made the news as well: one as a hometown hero and the other for leading our high school's football team to the playoffs.

Finally, this week brought my Spring/Summer 2012 children's, adults, and gifts catalogs from Chronicle Books. They are one of my favorite children's publishers. They were the first publisher I began working with when I started The Children's and Teens' Book Connection.

Hope you enjoyed my first of hopefully many You've Got Mail Mondays. Feel free to share something you received in your mailbox last week.


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