When a Book Takes You Hostage

 

Have you ever been taken hostage by a book?? From the first sentence you are hooked. You can’t put it down and when you are forced to put it aside, it stays in your mind. You can’t stop thinking about it. You feel as if you KNOW all the characters like you know your friends.

THAT is how I feel about Ken Follett’s  first 2 books in the Century Trilogy. I was hooked by the first one, Fall of Giants  and Winter of the World just kept my obsession going.

Once you start the Fall of Giants, you are on a whirlwind adventure, going back in time to just before WWI. In Winter of the World, the adventure continues, taking you to just after WWII. You see the ins and outs of everyday life in those times from the points of view of several members of families from Russia, England, Wales and the US. You see the points of view from coal miners, maids and the upper crust.

You are drawn in as much from the politics and fighting as you are the characters’ stories.

I absolutely cannot wait for the next in this series, Edge of Eternity. Unfortunately I will have to wait until the end of next year! WAH!!!!!!

I was taken hostage by Winter of the World on Wednesday and was just released this morning. LOL SIGH…. I guess now I can go back to regular life. 😉

 

Speaking of regular life, I have decided to make some cosmetic changes on the blog. See allllllllll of those blog buttons on the right side??? Yeah, I plan on taking most of those down. Most of them are from linky parties that I participate in. Bloggers are always trying to get new readers and linky parties are supposed to be great ways to do that, in theory. What usually happens is this: you link up your outstanding post to the party and it’s supposed to draw people to your site, generating new followers. You are supposed to click on other people’s links and comment on their posts. This rarely happens. What really happens is this: you link up your outstanding post and it gets lost in all the other outstanding posts. Very few people actually visit someone else’s blog. You don’t really generate new readers. SIGH…..  So, while I am cleaning up the side over there, I will also be looking for new and better ways to try to expand my readers. Any ideas??????

I will be leaving some of the buttons up. There are a few blogs that I feel I have a genuine friendship with the blogger and I will be leaving those up. 😉

 

My Goodness…..

 

It’s been a whole week since my last post!! MY GOODNESS!!!! I am SO sorry!!! It’s been crazy and hectic around here. I am still unpacking… I am working on my sewing room/library. That’s about all that’s left except for figuring out where to put some little things. I have most of MY books put up but there are still boxes and boxes and BOXES of the kids’ books. YILES!!!!!!

I have also been fighting yet another ear infection. MY GOODNESS!!!!! What is up with that????? And of course, we are in between insurance, again…. So I have just had to suck it up and deal with it. Thankfully it seems to be getting better now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what my first sewing project ought to be once I get up and running again. I am in desperate need of some new clothes so I think the first few things will actually be for ME!!! LOL

I have been thinking a lot about this pattern-

Simplicity 2947

It looks SOOOO comfy and perfect for summer!!!

 

I wish I could remember what other patterns I have. They are still buried in a box somewhere.  MY GOODNESS!!!!

 

I think I am going to keep an eye on the Joann’s ads. I want some more patterns!! Like these…..

 

M6744

 

 

M6747

 

 

M6758

 

 

B5879

 

 

B5897

 

 

V8896

 

 

OH!! I got a couple of books for Mother’s Day!! Right now I am almost finished with Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants. MY GOODNESS!!! It is sooooo good!! I have never read anything by Ken Follett before and if this book is anything to go by then I have seriously been missing out. I wish I had the next in the series!!!

The Hubby got me Dan Brown’s Inferno!!!! I should be starting it tomorrow! I just LOVE his Robert Langdon series and have been reading it from the beginning.

Joshua got me Charlaine Harris’s Dead Ever After. It is the very last Sookie Stackhouse book!!! MY GOODNESS!!!! WAH!!! It was a great ending to an awesome series and I just don’t know what I am going to do without any more!!! WAH!!!!!!!

 

 

 

It’s Monday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, it’s Monday. Again. BLECK!!!!!!

 

I am hard at work on my Valentine’s Day look for Project Run & Play.  Usually I would have my look finished and up on the blog yesterday. Umm… not happening…. LOL It is taking me a little a longer than expected, probably because I took so much time for reading the past couple of days. I was just soooooo tired. I have been running at full steam for weeks now and I think it caught with me.  Anyway, the chronic fatigue from the fibro kicked in and I took a couple of days off.

 

The Winter Blogathon 2013 was very cool. I learned a couple of things. I backed up my blog and added descriptions to my categories, although I couldn’t get them all to take. One of the things I wanted to try never came up. That was a bummer.

 

I read an entire book this weekend. I hadn’t done that in quite a while. It was The Third Option by Vince Flynn. It was very good, full of espionage! 😉 But I found out after reading half of it that I was lacking some back story that came out in another book (not a part of the Mitch Rapp storyline) AND that there are now 2 prequals!!! WHAT??? I HATE THAT!!!!! ***grumble, grumble, grumble***

 

In our homeschool this week we will be continuing our coral reef and Aztecs, Incas and Mayans studies and starting on the England country study.

 

I hope to have my Valentine’s Day look finished today and up on the blog tomorrow! Wish me luck!!! 5 rows of pleats… I MUST be crazy…. LOL

 

 

Writer’s Block Take 2!

BLAH!!!!!!!!!! Yep…. I have it again. Stinking writer’s block. (insert mumbling here)

I haven’t sewn much the past couple of days. Yesterday was an out and out war between my machine and myself. GRRR!! I won that battle (with some help from The Hubby).  It was rattling something awful and I was trying to take it apart and figure it out. The Hubby took it apart even more and eventually found an arm had detached from….. something… He put it back on and it works again! SHEW!

I broke 3 needles yesterday trying to sew through thick layers of fleece. SIGH… I was using  100/16 titanium needles, I guess I need some bigger than that.

It’s been very rainy and cool here the past few days. BLECK!!!! Definitely hot chocolate weather, though!

I went to church yesterday morning to listen to the missionaries. Afterward we had lunch and the Seniors on Mission group and I packed bags for Bags of Hope and Love! YAY!! The lady that is taking over for me wants to go with me the next time I drop bags off. I think I will have to make that my last official day as the leader of it here since I need to start focusing on moving and finishing up Halloween projects. But I am looking forward to starting a new group in Georgia!!  I was reading the library’s site for that county and they have a once a week meeting for sewists! YAY!! Maybe I can them interested in it, too!!

I think I will turn over all the donations to her that day, too. Well, I think I will take the donations made directly to me with me to start the group in Georgia, any donations that were from church members will remain here for this group. Do you think that sounds good? Or should I just leave all the donations and start from scratch?

I started a new book today. For Paperback Swap members, it’s for a swap. 😉 You all know I never read swap books until they are picked!! For nonPBSers, swaps are little games on PaperbackSwap.com that members can play. Usually a game has a theme and all books revealed must meet certain guidelines pertaining to that theme. I usually do a Halloween swap every year but I have to sit this year out with the move and all. You should all check them out if you love to read!!! PBS is my favorite site in the whole world! Well, except for my blog. 😉 You have to be a member to view the games forum but it is sooooo worth it! You trade books for FREE!!! All you pay is shipping costs to mail out a book you already own to another member that has requested it. Most often it only costs a few dollars to mail one book and you get a credit to the site to order a book for yourself that is then shipped to you by another member that then earns a credit for his or herself for mailing the book to you! LOL  AND you can also buy credits to order books… I have done that QUITE often…. I have a book hoarding problem…. And no, thank you, I do not want to join a 12 step program for it. 😉 Let me have my book and fabric addictions, please! LOL

OH!! I got another great Bzz campaign from Bzz Agent!! This one is for Gorton’s fish. I received a coupon for a free box, a spatula with Gorton’s on the handle and some coupons to hand out to friends.  I love free stuff. LOL Even if I don’t like it someone in this house is bound to! LOL The Hubby and 3 of the 5 kids LOVE seafood.  Too bad I don’t get any points for adding this in my post!! LOL Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t. No biggie, I love Bzz Agent anyway. 😉 And I always give my honest opinion of something whether I’m asked to or not. 😉

Let’s see… We need some pictures don’t we?? No blog post is complete without pictures!!!

All of these come from LOLCats

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eileen! This next one is for you!!! LOL

 

OK…. Now we have pictures! I can consider this a correct blog post… LOL

OH! I forgot to name the book I just started! LOL It is Cake on a Hot Tin Roof (A Piece of Cake Mystery, Bk 2) by Jacklyn Brady.

The first one was very good! I hope this one is, too!

I had to put down Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling so that I can read and mail the swap book before we move. I still have 2 other swaps with books floating around in it! YILES!!