You've Got Mail Monday

It's another Monday. This post is going up late because it has been a busy day filled with errands and Christmas shopping. I'm close to done with shopping; but the house is still only half decorated.

This week the mail carrier brought a lovely box filled with nine books from one of my favorite children's books publisher, Tiger Tales. All picture books this time. I've been donating these to the schools since my girls are beyond these books. I'll review them at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection and then deliver them to the school down the street. Also for review, I received The Maisy Files: Maisy and the Missing Mice by Elizabeth Woodrum.

My January issue of All You magazine arrived, as did the December issue of Food Network Magazine. Lots of goodies on these covers. I might gain weight just staring at them.

Catalogs showed up from Delia's (the Lil' Diva loves their clothes), Brookstone®, L.L. Bean, and Land's End. The Spring 2014 Frontlist Catalog from Chronicle Books also arrived. Though winter hasn't officially started, I'm thrilled to see the gardening catalogs popping up in my mailbox. Totally Tomatoes 2014 came last week.

The UPS guy was kind enough to bring one of the hubby's Christmas presents last week. I got a great deal on Cyber Monday from Amazon for something I know he has wanted for a while; though I think the girls will love it just as much as he does.

That's it for now. Hope you have a great week and stay warm. We had a wintry mix last night into today and are expecting 1 - 4 inches of snow tomorrow. Let the fun begin!

You've Got Mail Monday

November is halfway over. Thank goodness. I'm just about done in, but if I can make it to November 30th, it will get easier from there. I attended the WriteAngles Conference this Saturday. John Katzenback, author of Hart's War and Just Cause sat on one of the panels I attended. Anthony Swofford, author of the memoir, Jarhead was on another panel. Keynote speakers were Pat Schneider and Suzy Becker. Great day and bought books I have no room for in my office--like always. I picked up Katzenbach's book, What Comes Next, Everything I Was by Corinne Demas (she sat on the same panel as Kaztzenbach and I loved her), Swofford's book, Jarhead, for my hubby, and The King's Agent by Donna Russo Morin, who just so happens to be friends with one of my favorite historical fiction authors, C.W. Gortner. I also saw a local teacher and purchased her book directly from her: The Paladins DuBois by Patricia Donaruma Williford.

My office remains a mountain of books, which I have to clean because the Lil' Diva is having party here on Friday night and I sure don't want anyone to think I'm a total slob. I'm really not, I've just had a hectic year and haven't been able to stay on top of things the way I usually do.

Christmas presents have started to arrive from various retailers. One of the presents I was going to get the hubby ended up being an emergency purchase when his shaver died. Well, died isn't actually accurate; it broke and wouldn't shut off. The new Braun will arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I managed to convince the old shaver to stop running constantly by knifing it almost to death. Some of its parts will never be the same. Dad used to have one of those self-cleaning shavers, but it took up a lot of counter space and required regular purchases of the cleaning cartridge, which weren't cheap even at Walmart. Here's the new purchase:




I wonder why he opted to go with a wet and dry shaver this time. He's never done that before.

The coming of Christmas means the mail carrier, the UPS driver and the FedEx driver are all visiting us often. I still have boxes in the playroom from this week's deliveries. I picked up a couple of cute seasonal bread pans so I can make something for the church bazaar. I'm not much of a crafter these days, so I'm focusing on filling up the bake sale table.

Thy Will Be Done by Ronald Kirk and Closet Words by Kim Hilton arrived this week. I'll be reviewing those books during their December virtual book tours. I received a small catalog from the National Home Gardening Club, which I am a member of, about the AeroGarden. These units allow you to garden all year long. Too bad my cats would eat anything I tried to grow in the house. My December issue of All You magazine arrived, as did the first issue of my new HGTV Magazine subscription. Actually, my office right now is also piles of unread magazines. I swear, I will get to them all. I don't subscribe to anything just for the heck of it.

I also received this new product to review. It's called Re-Grip®. You install it on tool handles and it redistributes the energy created by impact. I think I'll try to add it to my rubber mallet to see how it works.

That's it for this week's You've Got Mail Monday. Hope you enjoy your week.

You've Got Mail Monday

I'm thinking the mail carrier must have felt guilty about ignoring me the previous week, because he sure made up for it last week. Between the United States Postal Service, UPS and FedEx, I can't seem to find the floor of my office.

Catalogs and magazines arrived galore last week. Most of the catalogs made their way to the recycle bin. I try not to save them if I don't think I'll be ordering from them. It's not Christmas yet, so Land's End isn't on the agenda--even if they do send me multiple catalogs each month. Oriental Trading sent a catalog with Halloween costumes and other funny dress up accessories. I actually bought an angel costume from them one year for the Lil' Princess. I remember it because it was the year of the three horrible storms that left us without power for multiple days. Halloween 2011 was canceled by our town because we were still without power and many downed trees littered the sidewalks and roads. We ended up staying at my in-laws' house for a week, so we Trick-or-Treated there. Eventually, once everyone in town was back up and running again, we had our own Trick-or-Treat night.

Grandin Road® has some great Halloween and fall decorations. Too bad I'm broke right now.

In addition to those catalogs, my October 18, 2013 issue of All You magazine arrived. Love the cover on this one. I haven't had time to go through it yet, but hopefully I will by the end of the week. Traditional Home also arrived. I've been so busy I haven't even unwrapped it yet. That's definitely on my to-do list. I find so many great decorating ideas to show my future interior designer.

I have to admit to a bit of confusion about magazines lately. It seems I'm getting some I never signed up for. ESPN magazine started coming a few months ago. There is no way I would want that one. Then Shape magazine began arriving. I thought maybe my Heath magazine had simply changed its name, but I received a copy of each this month, so not sure what's going on.

As for books, I was pleasantly surprised to find a box of children's picture books from Clavis Publishing on my doorstep one day. I'll review those at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. I had ordered a copy of The Crypto-Capers in The Peacock Diaries by Renee Hand, which also arrived. I've followed this series since the beginning and I can't wait to read this one. Finally, A Christmas Carol 2: The Return of Scrooge by Robert J. Elisberg showed up at the end of the week. I'll be reviewing that one at The Book Connection in October.

Planning for my upcoming virtual book tour for Little Shepherd, I ordered a few of my books so I can mail them to reviewers. Our UPS driver dropped those off. My new business cards also arrived from VistaPrint.

I think that's it. Like I said, it was a busy mail week. Hope you had a nice day today. Many blessings for the rest of the week.

You've Got Mail Monday

It was a busy weekend followed by a busy start to my week. We celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday on Saturday. I worked in the garden on Sunday planting second season vegetables, taking in some of the earlier harvest, and restaking the tomato plants that have grown like gangbusters this year.

This week, the Lil' Princess has soccer camp and the Lil' Diva is making up two days of golf camp she missed because of last week's rain. I have a couple of hours to myself while I wait for the inspector to come check out the new roof. Yep, the house needed a new roof. We had hail damage from the 2011 tornado.

This is a picture close to completion. We changed from a drab black and brown colored shingle to a reddish brown called Burnt Sienna. Love the new look.

There's so much that needs doing around the homestead right now, I'm not sure how we'll pay for it all. We're not handy people, so we have to hire out to accomplish almost everything.

Okay, now on to the mail. I was able to plant the second season vegetables because Burpee® shipped the beets and salad greens I ordered. They arrived on Wednesday. As I mentioned, the tomatoes are growing like crazy. I've never had such tall tomato plants. The pumpkins are doing well and so are the watermelons. It looks like the leaves are picking up that Powdery Mildew disease. I have to see if I can get rid of it. I cut off the infected leaves--not sure if I should have, I'm learning as I go--but just learned I should not water them at night because the humidity makes the condition worse. I'll see if I can save them. Next year, I'll plant them in a different location and water at a separate time. We've had several green beans and potatoes so far, and my crop of onions came out great. I replanted lettuce and carrots, so hopefully they will come up with the beets and the salad greens.

My latest issue of All You arrived this week. The August issue talks about spending less on everything: groceries, beauty items, and Back-to-school. They have chicken recipes in this one, which is good because we eat a lot of chicken. I'm also drawn to the "easy organizing ideas."

We received a catalog from dElia's and it has a 20% off entire purchase coupon on the cover. The prices look good and the styles seem to be what the Lil' Diva would like. Maybe I'll get her some school clothes from there. The other item in the mailbox this week was the Olympia Sports catalog. We get the Lil' Princess' sports equipment there. Sometimes we visit Dick's Sporting Goods, but Olympia is closer and the staff is great. Olympia is also offering 20% off entire purchase (including sale and clearance items). It might be time for a new pair of cleats before fall soccer kicks off.

That's it for today. Hope you have a great week.

You've Got Mail Monday

Another week has come and gone. Last week was a crazy one with doctor visits, end of the school year activities, and dance recital. Today is the last day of school, so now the schedule should lighten up for a month or so.

In addition to my latest issue of All You magazine, the postman delivered catalogs from Boston Proper, Land's End, and FrontGate. Not feeling in the buying mood--meaning, I am so broke it hurts to even browse--they swiftly made it into the recycle bin.

Two books arrived this week and I am so excited. The Many Faces of Katniss Everdeen and Buffy and the Heroine's Journey. These books are by Valerie Estelle Frankel. I read Frankel's other Hunger Games book, Katniss the Cattail, which is a guide to all that is Hunger Games. She kindly sent me these two other books for review. What a neat niche she has created with her movie and television show tie-in books. You can find her here if you would like to learn more.

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

You've Got Mail Monday

We'll it sure was an exciting week as far as mail and packages goes. In addition to my May 24th issue of All You magazine, a Summer 2013 Gardener's Supply Company catalog arrived. I've been planning the vegetable garden and the potato tubers are due to be shipped to us this week. I'm not sure if I'm going to use my potato growing bag or just sow them into my raised beds. The last time I sowed them directly into the garden, the critters ate them. The winter rye has been turned over and the raised beds are in good shape for planting. I think we're finally done with frost (hope I didn't just jinx it) so the early spring crops will be going in this week.

The new plants arrived for the flower bed I am putting in to the right of the entryway. When we moved here, I had little gardening knowledge. I don't have much more now, but I can follow a garden plan and put in purchased plants where it tells me. This is the one I'm using: http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/seasonal/summer-garden-plan/. All except four of the plants arrived this week. Cold weather delayed some of the shipment. I'll share before and after photos once I get all the plants in.

As far as books go, Last Chance for Justice by Kathi Macias arrived. I'll be reviewing it at my Christian book blog: http://cherylschristianbookconnection.blogspot.com/ on May 8th. I also received God's Special Forces: A Manual for Becoming a Young Woman of Quality by Darlene Laney. That review is for Christian Children's Authors, where I blog the first and third Fridays of each month.

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

After an exhausting weekend, it's good to rest up and look through the mail. It was a catalog and magazine week, not much more.

There were the usual culprits, Land's End and Oriental Trading. We just firmed up reservations for a trip to Disney in Florida around Memorial Day weekend, so I'll be needing to pick up a few things for the girls from Land's End--if I can find some good deals. Our vacation might also mean a trip to Justice. The Lil Diva (11) needs a new bathing suit. She went swimming at the YMCA this weekend and hers is a bit tight. It certainly won't fit her in a few months.

One new offering was Boston Proper. They have some beautiful clothes, most of them costing way more than I would spend on myself, but they had a few things I would consider since the prices were reasonable.

My latest issue of All You arrived last week, too. The Easter/spring cover is really making me sick and tired of all this snow. We're expecting another 4 to 8 inches this week. Ugh. All You is one of the magazines that I actually make the time to read because it offers advice and tips I use. The coupons and recipes are an added bonus.

That's it from my neck of the woods. Did you find anything interesting in your mailbox last week?

You've Got Mail Monday

Looking for a job has to be the most depressing task. I feel like I'm trying to get votes for Homecoming Queen and failing miserably. Sent more applications out over the weekend. We'll see what happens.

On a fun note, my All You and Traditional Home magazines arrived last week. I found some recipes in the first one that I would like to try. The latter has an article titled, "10 Pretty and Practical Ideas to Refresh a Tired Kitchen." I'll definitely look at that one, but right around now I'm thinking I need practical ideas to refresh a tired house. After 13 years of looking at a lot of the same stuff, I'm ready for a change.

I was excited to find Untimed by Andy Gavin. I'll be reviewing that one in March at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection.

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