One of my quilting works in progress is a pattern called De la prominade. It is from Quilt Fusion. I don’t usually buy a lot of patterns but I loved this one from the moment I saw it.
You trace the pattern pieces – the hundreds of pattern pieces per block – onto fusible web, cut them out, and then assemble them like the picture. When you are satisfied you iron them in place.
Here are the blocks I have done so far:
The center carousel
The top center horses
The bottom center swans
The left side horse
That panel is pieced but not quilted yet. Each panel is layered on a piece of batting and all the pieces are sewn down around all the edges. Later they will all be sewn together and a backing sewn in place. It is much easier to quilt this as you go than trying to maneuver the whole thing.
I’ve been neglecting this one for a while. I have a place picked out to hang it. I even painted the room a soft grey to accent this. The husband doesn’t believe that it will ever be finished. Someday…
There is a C-word that would be the obvious thing to write about at this time in history but I’m not having it. Instead I’m going to write about my Creativity Hat.
I got this hat to use as part of my White Rabbit costume one Halloween. This hat is so comfortable. It is made of some kind of velvety fabric over a soft foam that gives it structure. It gives me bunny ears. Who doesn’t want bunny ears? I loved it so much that it seemed a shame to only be able to wear it the one day.
It was sitting in my sewing room (where all random stuff ends up) on a day when I was cold. I put it on and decided then and there that I was going to wear it whenever I wanted. The Creativity Hat was born.
The husband has proper respect for the hat. If he wanders into the sewing room and sees me wearing the hat he knows that he might be interrupting serious work.
I know I’m not the only person on Earth right now whose brain has spiraled down this rabbit hole:
“Well, that’s it. This is the end of civilization as we know it. Better learn some useful skills. I better do a refresher course on how to bake bread.”
I know I’m not the only one because after I had this mental breakdown I went to the store and all the yeast was sold out. I had to order a huge amount on Amazon because that was all that was available. (“Better look up the directions on how to harvest wild yeast and maintain a culture.” Check.)
Back in the day I had a copy of Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day. I made bread for a while. I can’t find my book now though. So I grabbed a couple of ebooks in the series from the library. I also ordered a hardcover copy of Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a day. (“Your ebooks are going to be inaccessible after the apocalype.” Thanks, panic brain. “It is a very large and heavy book. Perfect for smacking zombies upside the head if it comes to that.”)
If you aren’t familiar with these books, the idea is that you make a dough that can stay in the refrigerator for a while. (“Like you are going to have a refrigerator.” Shut up, brain!) When you want to bake a loaf you use a portion of your stored dough, mix in any flavorings you might want, shape as desired, and bake. Five minutes is a bit of a stretch because there is rising time that needs to be taken into account but it is a simple, no-knead system.
These are the books that I read. They all have the same beginning steps for the basic doughs. I didn’t have any whole wheat flour at home so I used the basic white bread recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day to start.
I mixed up a batch and let it set to start to rise. I always get excited when that actually works. I have bad luck with yeast. Eventually it rose enough to fill the bowl.
It’s pretty self explanatory. Every day in April I’ll be doing a post on a topic that starts with a different letter. Find other participants here.
Today is brought to you by the letter A.
ABOUT ME
Here are some fast facts about me if you are new here for the challenge or even if you are a long time follower.
I’m a vegetarian but I hate broccoli. For some reason that really disturbs people.
Off the top of my head I can think of 5 major quilt projects I have in process. That number doesn’t include those that I know I’ll never get back to.
I can’t even tell you how many books I have right now where I’ve read at least one chapter but haven’t finished yet.
I currently live with a parrot, 2 cats, and a husband. More on the Meet the Cast page.
I started this blog on January 1, 2005.
I’m supposed to be going to Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia this fall. I’m not hopeful.
I’ve been ignoring my harp for about a month. I need to get back to messing with it.
On the first of the month I post a feature called Foodies Read that is a link up for reviews of books about food.
I bought a kayak recently.
I like walking long distances but can’t stand even the idea of running.
If I could have any super power it would be teleportation. Lunch in France, anyone?
I often wonder what would be more useful in a post-apocalyptic setting or if I got time warped into the past – my doctoring skills or my sewing skills.
I list my age on my about me pages as 40s so I only have to remember to change it once a decade or so. Work smarter!
Since I’ve been being quite a blogging slacker lately, I’ve decided to sign up for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April.
“What’s that?” you ask.
Well, it is simple. On April 1 you post about anything that starts with A. Write another post for each letter of the alphabet all through the month. There is a master list so you can visit everyone else doing this too.
You can write about anything you want and you have enough time to think up something for each letter if you start thinking about it now. Find out more at A to Z Challenge.
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme run by Books are my Favorite and Best. You are given a starting book and then you link it to six others using whatever stream of consciousness reasoning pops into your brain.
“In America, it is soccer. But in Great Britain, it is the real football. No pads, no prayers, no prisoners. And that’s before the players even take the field.
Nick Hornby has been a football fan since the moment he was conceived. Call it predestiny. Or call it preschool. Fever Pitch is his tribute to a lifelong obsession. Part autobiography, part comedy, part incisive analysis of insanity, Hornby’s award-winning memoir captures the fever pitch of fandom — its agony and ecstasy, its community, its defining role in thousands of young mens’ coming-of-age stories. Fever Pitch is one for the home team. But above all, it is one for everyone who knows what it really means to have a losing season.”
Wow, the book is about soccer. I thought immediately about baseball because the movie version changed it. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book about baseball, because it is boring.
Actually that’s a lie because I know a lot about Babe Ruth from:
“The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the twentieth century: on May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, and when he landed in Le Bourget airfield near Paris, he ignited an explosion of worldwide rapture and instantly became the most famous person on the planet. Meanwhile, the titanically talented Babe Ruth was beginning his assault on the home run record, which would culminate on September 30 with his sixtieth blast, one of the most resonant and durable records in sports history. In between those dates a Queens housewife named Ruth Snyder and her corset-salesman lover garroted her husband, leading to a murder trial that became a huge tabloid sensation.”
When I think of this book I actually think mostly about planes because that is most of the beginning of the book.
“The Right Stuff. It’s the quality beyond bravery, beyond courage. It’s men like Chuck Yeager, the greatest test pilot of all and the fastest man on earth. Pete Conrad, who almost laughed himself out of the running. Gus Grissom, who almost lost it when his capsule sank. John Glenn, the only space traveler whose apple-pie image wasn’t a lie.”
This is one of those rare books where I love the movie almost as much as the book.
Another book where I love the miniseries almost as much as the book
“By the time Rock Hudson’s death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest health crisis of the 20th century. America faced a troubling question: What happened? How was this epidemic allowed to spread so far before it was taken seriously? In answering these questions, Shilts weaves the disparate threads into a coherent story, pinning down every evasion and contradiction at the highest levels of the medical, political, and media establishments.”
I just heard about this book about one of the women prominent in And The Band Played On. I’m getting it from interlibrary loan.
“In 1974, a young doctor arrived at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with one goal in mind: to help eradicate smallpox. The only woman physician in her class in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a two-year epidemiology training program, Mary Guinan soon was selected to join India’s Smallpox Eradication Program, which searched out and isolated patients with the disease. By May of 1975, the World Health Organization declared Uttar Pradash smallpox-free.
During her barrier-crossing career, Dr. Guinan met arms-seeking Afghan insurgents in Pakistan and got caught in the cross fire between religious groups in Lebanon. She treated some of the first AIDS patients and served as an expert witness in defense of a pharmacist who was denied employment for having HIV–leading to a landmark decision that still protects HIV patients from workplace discrimination. Randy Shilts’s best-selling book on the epidemic, And the Band Played On, features her AIDS work.”
Another book from this era that I have coming from the library is:
“Nestled in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, the town of Johnson City saw its first AIDS patient in August 1985. Working in Johnson City was Abraham Verghese, a young Indian doctor specializing in infectious diseases who became, by necessity, the local AIDS expert. Out of his experience comes a startling, ultimately uplifting portrait of the American heartland.”
Yeah, that Abraham Verghese, who wrote Cutting for Stone. Cutting for Stone was set in Ethiopia so I always thought he lived in Ethiopia, or anywhere other than Tennessee.
An author that does live in Ethiopia wrote this book on my iPad right now
“Yesterday, a Dragon kidnapped me from my cage in a zoo.
Stolen from her jungle home and sold to a zookeeper, Pip knows only a world behind bars, a world in which a Pygmy warrior and her giant ape friends are a zoo attraction. She dreams of being Human. She dreams of escaping to the world outside her cage.
Then, the Dragon Zardon kidnaps her into a new life. Pip rides Dragonback across the Island-World to her new school – a school inside a volcano. A school where Humans learn to be Dragon Riders. But this is only a foretaste of her magical destiny, for the Dragon Assassins are coming. They have floated an Island across the Rift and their aim is nothing less than the massacre of all Dragons.
Now, the courage of the smallest will be tested to the utmost. For Pip is the Pygmy Dragon, and this is her tale.”
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme run by Books are my Favorite and Best. You are given a starting book and then you link it to six others using whatever stream of consciousness reasoning that pops into your brain.
“Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.”
I had never heard of this book. My first thought was “That’s a really blue cover.”
“Sefia lives her life on the run. After her father is viciously murdered, she flees to the forest with her aunt Nin, the only person left she can trust. They survive in the wilderness together, hunting and stealing what they need, forever looking over their shoulders for new threats. But when Nin is kidnapped, Sefia is suddenly on her own, with no way to know who’s taken Nin or where she is. Her only clue is a strange rectangular object that once belonged to her father left behind, something she comes to realize is a book.”
The Reader was fantasy written by an East Asian author.
“At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, freed slave, eminently proficient magician, and Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers—one of the most respected organizations throughout all of Britain—ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.
But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain—and the world at large…”
This has magic and British people and class, race, and gender politics.
“A sixteen-year-old governess becomes a spy in this alternative U.S. history where the British control with magic and the colonists rebel by inventing.”
As I was looking at this, I realized that there is a sequel out. I can’t rush to read it right now because I put myself on a library ban until March 1. The sequel will be on the library request list on March 1.
“From the bestselling author of Thursday Next — a brilliant novel about a world where social order and destiny are dictated by the colors you can see”
This is one of my all time favorites. It is the start of a series. The rest hasn’t been written. It’s been years! It says on his website the sequel comes out in 2018. I’ll believe it when I see it.
All the pipes on the cover reminded me of the next book.
“There couldn’t be a fire along the Jorgmund Pipe. It was the last thing the world needed. But there it was, burning bright on national television. The Pipe was what kept the Livable Zone safe from the bandits, monsters and nightmares the Go Away War had left in its wake. The fire was a very big problem.
Enter Gonzo Lubitsch and his friends, the Haulage & HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company, a team of master troubleshooters who roll into action when things get particularly hot. They helped build the Pipe. Now they have to preserve it—and save humanity yet again. But this job is not all it seems. It will touch more closely on Gonzo’s life, and that of his best friend, than either of them can imagine. And it will decide the fate of the Gone-Away World.”
I don’t remember anything about this book. I only remember that I absolutely loved it. I should reread it.
“Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…”
I read this a long time ago. It freaked me out. It was one of the most influential books I’ve ever read and I don’t remember much about it at all. I should reread it. I have a copy of it. I’ve never been able to make myself re-read it. Now it is way too close to reality. I need to make myself reread it.
I was in Knoxville TN over the weekend and decided to hit up the Women’s March there. I’m so glad I did.
I made a little video from my pictures and video
I loved the Indian girl at the end of the video. She was so excited because the crowd behind us had started chanting “Love Trumps Hate”. I told her it was because of her sign. She was walking beside me for a while chanting “Love Trumps Hate” in this little tiny voice. She was adorable!
It was raining so eventually my signs melted. But lots of people came up to me to take pictures of them. A physics professor from the University of Tennessee hugged me and got his son to take pictures of us together.
East Tennessee is a very conservative area so it was great to see this turnout. Part of me just wanted to yell though, “We wouldn’t be here if some of ya’ll hadn’t voted for him in the first place.” but I held my tongue.
1. I’m trying to teach myself to play the lap harp.
Not a harp like this:
This is my lap harp.
You are supposed to just play simple stuff on them but I’m trying to actually learn to play cool stuff like this guy.
2. I get confused when people refer to me as a redhead.
My natural color is light brown. Actually, my natural color is probably mostly grey by now. I’ve been coloring my hair red because I’m a pale person and red warms my color up some. There are people who have only ever known my hair red. Sometimes they say things about me being a typical redhead and I get so confused. I guess they don’t realize it comes from a bottle.
3. I don’t know how to turn on the radio in my car.
I got a new car relatively recently. My ipod plugs into it. I only listen to audiobooks and songs on my ipod. I have no idea how to make the actual radio go.
4. I don’t read or watch westerns.
I think it comes from being around horses all my life. I get highly critical of the way people ride or take care of the horses. I can’t watch people jerk horses’ mouths around on screen.
Don’t be dragging that blanket in the dirt! Who’s going to clean that?
5. I’ve been to 15 countries.
Canada, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Peru, England, Wales, Iceland (just the airport 4 times), France, Germany, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Monaco.
Even though I’ve been to more countries in Europe, I’ve spent the most total time in Central and South America.
I picked this day because I had nothing out of the ordinary planned at all. It is my short day at work too so there will be other things to talk about. It is also before the husband’s surgery and recovery which changed up the way we spend our days.
12:15 AM – The husband, who previously decided that it was too hot in the bedroom so he was going to sleep in the spare room, decides to come back to bed. Powder and Freckles look at him with disgust from their sprawled out comfy positions on the bed. I tell them that we are going to make room for Daddy and they grumble and huff but slide over. I’m the one that ends up with the least space but I’m being mature and not grumbly.
5:30 – I don’t usually hear the husband’s alarm but I do today. It wakes me up from a dream about being at a vet conference where people were presenting techniques for examining flayed penis skin as a way to diagnose eye disease. Other speakers were mad that the first presenters were doing it all wrong. I don’t know what that means about my psyche.
6:30 – Wake up again when the husband leaves for work. Start the Morning Briefing. Lay in bed with my iPad and read Feedly, Facebook, post my new blog post to Twitter and Pinterest, read Twitter.
7:30 – Get up. As soon as my feet hit the floor Freckles starts screaming that I have to feed the cats. She likes to lick the spoon. The bird is yelling too. Package up my Ninja Swap to send to Bernadette in Australia. Grab my iPod and headphones to finish up the last 20 minutes of:
My preorder of the Marked in Flesh audiobook is here!!!
8:00 – 8:30 – Move some stuff in my sewing room to make room for an infrared sauna that I ordered yesterday. Made dinner – mushroom soup with a cauliflower cream base (much better than it sounds) and oven roasted asparagus. Actually fed the cats too so Freckles is happy.
8:30 -9:30 – Breakfast in the bathtub while watching an episode of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Then I get ready for work a little early because I need to stop at the post office.
11:00 – 2:00 – Morning office hours. We submitted 17 lab specimens last night so I had to go through all those results first. I work at a walk in clinic so we never know what the day will be like. This morning we saw 25 patients. Most were here for vaccines. There weren’t any critically ill patients. My tech and I did shave 1.2 lbs of matted hair off a cat though. That is a quiet morning for us. Maybe because yesterday was super busy.
1:57 – A cat who needs some in house lab work checks in. Crap. I thought we might get lunch today. Managed to get all done by 2:20. We will still get a little lunch break. Spent it eating Chipotle and listening to Marked in Flesh.
3:00 – Back to work until 5:30. Had one little land shark poodle lunge at a syringe I was using to give nose drops and bite the tip off of it. (No needle). I grabbed him and tilted him head down and shook him until he spit the piece of plastic out of his mouth. I’ve never had a dog do that before. I think my heart stopped for a bit as I envisioned him swallowing the plastic. I couldn’t put my hand in his mouth because he was a bitey little thing.
6:15 – Home and out for a walk with the husband and Freckles
7:15 – Eat dinner and play Alphabetty on my iPad while watching one episode of Miss Fisher’s and one episode of Person of Interest.
9:15 – In bed and reading The True Game by Sheri S Tepper while the husband watches YouTube videos.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have to put a lot of thought into my costume. I have to be able to work in it. It can’t scare any dogs or cats or small children. This year I finally came up with the perfect costume.
I love that hat. It is the most comfy thing ever. I’ve been wearing it around my house for days. No animals were afraid of it. One kitten batted at the bow on it but everyone else just ignored it.
After work we took Z trick or treating in our neighborhood. Trick or treating with an autistic 12 year old has its own special annoyances. She refused to cross lawns to get to door. This is a neighborhood with driveways that tend to swoop along the sides of the lots and head to the back of the house. She insisted in going up the driveways to find a walk to the front door even when the house owners were telling her to cut across the lawn. Oh well, she got lots of extra exercise. She was totally defeated by one house’s landscaping. There was a row of bushes about 1 foot high. Being told to cross the lawn and then step over the bushes shut down her brain entirely. I wish I knew how to remove “Don’t step on the grass” as an absolutely rule and substitute, “Don’t punch your classmates” instead.
There was one house all lit up with spooky music playing. There was no one standing outside so we told her to go knock on the door because it looked like they were in full Halloween mode. No one answered her knock. So instead of saying, “Must not be here,” she started pounding on the door and yelling, “HEY! I SAID TRICK OR TREAT!!!!!!” Then we had to yell at her to stop assaulting the house and get back to the sidewalk. They were probably there but hiding from the person beating down their door.
She went to one house on a side street off the beaten path. She got candy there and the husband and I crossed the road to another decorated house while she was heading back towards us. She started yelling, “Wait! Wait! I can’t cross a road by myself!” at the top of her lungs. We were the only people on the street and there were no headlights visible in any direction. I said, “You’re 12 years old. Better figure it out.” Most kids are pushing their boundaries to try to grow up. We’re going to end up kicking and shoving her into adulthood entirely against her will.
She is terrified of everything so she was overcompensating by yelling at anyone and anything she found scary. She’d walk up to people with mildly scary costumes and decorations and yell, “You aren’t scaring me!” in their faces. Social interaction is such a joy.
Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award
Answer eleven questions that the blogger gives you
Give eleven random facts about yourself
Nominate eleven bloggers that you think are deserving of the award (with less than 200 followers)
Let the bloggers know you have nominated them
Give them eleven questions to answer
The Questions She Chose For Me
1. Which fictional character do you wish were real ?
Granny Weatherwax but I’d be scared to meet her. 2. What is the longest book you’ve ever read ?
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is 973 pages according to Goodreads. That may be the biggest but I read the ebook so it didn’t seem that bad. 3. Any book you wish you could reread for the first time ?
There are lots of them. Any book I like rereading like The Fresco by Sherri Tepper or The Skystone by Jack Whyte. 4. What’s your favourite things about blogging ?
I like talking to people who are just as obsessed as I am about weird things. 5. If you could live inside a book, which one would it be ?
I’d like to live in the world of Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde because then I’d be living in a book about living in a book. 6. Which author would you most like to meet ?
I don’t really like meeting people as evidenced when I talked about LeVar Burton’s book signing. 7. If you could have any of your questions about a book answered, what would it be ? (ex : what happens to Gale after Mockingjay ? etc)
A month ago I would have wanted to know what happened next in Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey because he never got around to writing the sequel but I just saw that the next two books are scheduled to be published. 8. Which book do you have no intention of reading ?
I just did a whole post on this. 9. Are you more Amazon or your local bookstore ?
Library first and then Amazon. It seems like blasphemy to say but I don’t like physical bookstores. I don’t like how they are organized. If they were set up using the Dewey Decimal system then I would probably like them better. 10. Which character’s death was just too real to handle ?
I have never recovered from Sirius’ death scene in The Order of the Phoenix. 11. If you could have a bookish-themed wedding, what theme would you choose ?
Alice in Wonderland
11 Facts About Me
1. I don’t like owning physical copies of books because I don’t like clutter.
2. Babies tend to be fascinated by me even though (or maybe because) I can’t stand them.
3. My ringtone for most people is the Harry Potter theme.
4. I say I’m afraid of snakes but mostly I’m scared of snake-shaped things on the ground – wires, branches, etc.
5. I have to know the year a book was published or I can’t settle in and read it.
6. I was on Jeopardy once. I lost.
7. I want a tortoise for my next pet.
8. I’ve been finding sharks in knee deep water when I go to the beach since before it was cool. I’m getting a bit worried about going in the water now. They seem to be drawn to me.
9. I’m pretty sure broccoli is poisonous. Anything that smells that bad has to be.
10. I’ve had psoriasis since I was 10. I like to tell nosy people that I have leprosy.
11. I’ve owned Apple computers since the Apple II but I have an Android phone. I just can’t like the iPhone for some reason.
Answer These Questions
1. What book would you recommend to a person who says that they don’t like to read?
2. If you could only read one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be?
3. What character did you want to see killed off?
4. What book have you reread the most?
5. What is your favorite fictional invention?
6. If you could spend a day with any character, who would it be?
7. What character do you want to be like when you grow up?
8. What book do you want to see made into a mini series if they promise not to ruin it?
9. What was the last book that made you really angry?
10. Is there an author or genre that you used to love but now don’t read anymore?
11. What is the weirdest book you ever read?
I’m horrible at nominating so this is open to everyone who wants to answer.
People smooshing people’s names together to show that they are a couple. Just stop.
“A portmanteau or portmanteau word, also called a blend in linguistics,[1] is a combination of taking parts (but not all) of two (or more) words or their sounds (morphemes) and their meanings into a single new word.”
Thank you Wikipedia for the language lesson but I still don’t like it.
Adding -gate to the end of a word to signify a scandal. Also just stop.
“I see a lot of times when something is a politically-oriented scandal that the suffix ‑gate is added to the end of the word the scandal revolves around.
Learn your history so you don’t end up sounding stupid on the internet.
Blogspot comment boxes that don’t have a option for Name/URL and require to have a Google account to leave a comment. Add extra annoyance points if using your AIM account is an option but URL isn’t. Does anyone still have an AIM account?
Ads that come up on the bottom of the page I’m trying to read and cover most of the page
Floating social media icons on the left side of a blog post that cover whatever you are trying to read so you can only read the two lines on the very top of the page
Posts that are slideshows and videos that don’t give you a transcript option. Videos take too long. Let me read your information.
Posts about how seeing other people’s good news on social media is depressing. Really? What’s wrong with people? It isn’t a zero sum game. Other people’s happiness doesn’t need to depress yours.
Same thing to the people in an article I read about how people who make fancy lunches for their kids are just show offs who want other parents to feel bad. Um, maybe they just like to cook and want their kids to eat healthy. Not everything is about you, other people!
This ad.
It is for an app version of our lab website so we can check lab results on our days off while hiking. At least the dog is enjoying the view. Screw work-life balance!
Stefani at Caught Read Handed has a library scavenger hunt going on. I didn’t get them all but here’s what I found at the main branch of our library.
Your library
A view from the second floor
I’ve never gone to a library with its own parking garage before.
Library Card
My poor dying library key tag!
Old School Card Catalog (we know that not all libraries have one of these, so take a picture of the catalog on a computer instead!)
This is a special sight! Usually the catalog computers aren’t working. There are only 1-2 on each floor. The fastest way to search the catalog is on your phone on the library website.
An audio book
Part of a row of audio books
A DVD
Somebody really liked Argo
Fun library furniture
The furniture is boring but the place is full of weird art.
A large print book
Ken Follet books are even heavier in large print.
Flyer for an upcoming event
One of the signs around the library. Not really upcoming though since I took this on April 18.
A fun display
This is a books about food display. Hey, those are aprons! I swear I thought they were boxer shorts until typing this caption and I was totally confused.
A book from the 800 non-fiction section (a book categorized in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System)
Let’s not dwell on how impossible it is to find anything by number in this library since nonfiction is on 3 floors and not in numerical order. You can’t even ask because no one knows what floor anything is on. My major pet peeve about this library is this but I’m not dwelling.
Newspaper/Magazine
One of the walls of magazines on the first floor seen from the second floor
A graphic novel
Find a book about libraries or with the word library in the title
Two-for-one!
Find a book with a girl in a dress on the cover
Find a book that’s green
Find a book with an author who has the same initials as you
Find a book with a number in the title
All kinds of numbers
Find a cookbook
Rows of cookbooks
Find a book with a picture of someplace you would like to visit
See the POP on the cover? That means that nonfiction book is housed in the fiction section which they call Pop Culture. Confusing!
I decided to cover two days because my first was so unusual for me. My first day was last Friday when I had a very rare day off when I had absolutely nothing scheduled.
2:00 AM – I’m awake! This doesn’t usually happen to me but my brain woke up and was excited about it. It wanted to get up and do things. Stupid brain. Went to other bedroom and read The Shadow of the Wind until I fell back asleep.
6:30 AM – Husband woke me up before leaving. Moved back to my bed and started internet surfing – bloglovin’, Facebook, Twitter. Served as a body pillow for all animals at different moments. They don’t share so one pushes off the one already there when they want to cuddle.
8:00 AM – I’m taking an online class so I did my lesson and spent some time on Pinterest.
9:00 AM – Writing some blog posts
9:45 AM – Sat down to eat some food and read a bit more of The Shadow of the Wind
11:45 AM – Finished the book. Now schedule is way off for the rest of the day. Off to run errands.
2:00 PM – I’m the proud owner of a new suitcase for my trip to England. I needed something bigger than a carry on but smaller than my big suitcase since we’ll be on and off trains with it. It has so many pockets and compartments that things I pack will probably be lost forever.
I also picked up the library books I had on hold.
3:30 PM – After some more time wasting I decided to take Freckles for a walk. The freaking dog is psychic. I was laying on the bed when I thought this. She lifted her head and looked at me pointedly even though I hadn’t moved at all. It was a foregone conclusion in her mind that we were about to go for a walk. We walked on our 1.5 mile loop. I dropped off my copy of Waking Up White at the Little Free Library up the road.
Start laundry. Clean up kitchen. Make a solemn vow to myself that the rest of the day will not include pants.
4:30 PM – Started reading Service Included
6:00 PM – Out to dinner with the husband. Required to wear pants.
7:00 PM – Win two games of pool. He put in the 8 ball by mistake but I won the second game fair and square including a beautiful two ball combination shot where I pocketed both balls. Okay, that second ball going in was a surprise.
8:00 PM – More reading and then watch the 2014 Doctor Who Christmas special that finally came out on Amazon.
9:30 PM – Move the laundry and go read more in bed.
The next day was more normal for me and was a Tuesday.
6:30 AM – Wake up when the husband leaves. Have my morning briefing (like the President) through Facebook, Twitter, etc and reply to email.
7:30 AM – Head downstairs to finish quilting a baby quilt that is due on Thursday. Watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while sewing.
The quilt is whales. I quilted waves in the blue fabric and seaweed in the pink borders.
I’m proud of this! I decided to free-hand stitch the baby’s name on the border. It turned out pretty good for not being marked and doing it on a domestic machine.
9:30 AM – Got dinner cooked so it just needed warmed up after work. It was a Mexican-flavored orzo casserole with two types of beans, olives, salsa, orzo, and corn. Also trimmed Freckles’ out of control frizzy hair. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to a dog anywhere anytime to hear her tell the story.
10:15 AM – Leave for work.
10:45 AM – Start reviewing lab results that we got in overnight.
11:00 AM – Doors open. I work at a walk-in clinic so we never know what will be coming in. It was fairly quiet this day. We never had more than 2-3 people waiting at a time.
2:15 PM – We got a lunch break and only 15 minutes late. Lunch doesn’t always happen. Ate in my car while listening to Somewhere Inside by Laura and Lisa Ling.
3:00 PM – Back to work. Still quiet. No major emergencies today and no staff injuries from restraining patients. Almost boring.
5:30 PM – Today was a short day and this is our official closing time. I left at 6 PM.
6:30 PM – Home and heating up dinner. Hung out with the husband watching MASH and Doctor Who.
8:30 PM – Started reading Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan until I fell asleep.
The Book Bloggers Love-A-Thon is designed to be 2 days of spreading positive vibes around the web. Check it out at Alexa’s blog.
My name is Heather and I’m in Ohio. I’ve been blogging here since 2005.
Mostly I blog about books but I also write about fitness, quilting, and anything else that I feel the need to rant about.
When I’m not blogging I like to:
Travel
We went to France and Monaco in October and I’m going to England in May. I also went to Orlando in January for a conference and snuck in some Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Universal time.
Quilt
I’m the state coordinator for Quilts of Valor, a group that gives quilts to veterans.
A book you love
A book you haven’t read but are interested in
A book from your partner’s wish list
Dates to Remember:
Sign-Ups Start: Monday, January 5th at 12AM
Sign-Ups End: Monday, January 12th at 11:59PM
First Post MUST be Posted within 3 days of receiving acceptance email: (latest possible is Monday, January 12th by noon)
Partners assigned: Wednesday, January 14th
Packages Shipped: on or before Saturday, January 24th
Show-Off Linky Opens: Wednesday, January 28th
Show-Off Linky Closes: Friday, February 13th
Basically, it’s a lax version of NaNoWriMo for book bloggers. I created prompts for each day, discussing different topics around books, blogging, and books + blogging.
My Book Pet Peeves
Misunderstandings
If the central conflict of the book could be resolved if the main characters took 5 minutes to sit down and tell each other what is going on, I’m not reading the book with the exception of Harry Potter. Yes, I’m judging you Harry and Dumbledore!
Love Triangles
Overdone and boring. No woman is that spectacular that multiple men are falling at her feet. Make a decision and move on with your lives. I’m waiting for a book where both guys dump the woman for being a pain in the butt and go find decent girlfriends or go out with each other.
Instalove
You loved him and decided to spend your life with him from the moment you met? Yeah, that’s going to end well.
Basically, it’s a lax version of NaNoWriMo for book bloggers. I created prompts for each day, discussing different topics around books, blogging, and books + blogging.
What Books Am I Excited to Read?
I loved the first book this author wrote about Catherine the Great. I want to find a time when I can totally immerse myself in this one with no distractions.
I just found out that this one is going to published in 2015 from a Goodreads banner ad. I don’t even know what it is about but I love this author’s books.
