2015 Book of the Year Bracket Challenge: Elite Eight

How is your bracket going? I'm in a bit of turmoil over here...I know what pain is coming. As if yesterday's loss of some incredibly good 5-star rated books wasn't hard enough, today we remove another fine handful of books to get down to the Elite Eight.

As a reminder of the pain that is real, here is where we start today... My Sweet Sixteen.

I'll be honest, this round was actually a lot more simple for me. Thank goodness. The majority of the books paired up nicely and made for some easy decision making, unlike last year.

As we get to the smaller rounds, I'll go through the analysis for each pair. Once they make it past the Elite Eight, it's only fair that they each get a little attention. Today though, I'm just going to focus on a couple of the pairings that made me a little heartbroken. I hate eliminating good books. It wears on me.

1. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (4 stars) vs. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (5 stars)

Now...I recognize that picking the winner for this pair was a given based on star ratings alone, but that doesn't mean that I didn't hurt a little at saying goodbye. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood was an ARC that I received last fall. If you've ever read anything by Margaret Atwood, then you know how talented that woman is. She's pretty freaking amazing. This book was really a good one, a bit of a creepy, futuristic thriller that was mildly reminiscent of YA dystopian fiction (think grown up version of something like Divergent, Matched, Delirium). It's one that I want on my bookshelf and will likely read again.

But if you were here for yesterday's eliminations, then you also know of my intense love for Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop. There really wasn't a question that this one would pull through in this match up. It's just so freaking good. My heart is full just thinking about it. 

So obviously...moving on to the Elite Eight... The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George.

2. Nothing Like Looking by Chris Van Hakes (5 stars) vs. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (4 stars)

What are the odds that two bloggers would get paired against each other? Apparently they were stellar, because here we are with my blogging friend Chris Van Hakes paired up against the illustrious Jenny Lawson (AKA The Bloggess).

Jenny's first book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, was the BOTY winner back in 2012, so obviously she's got the chops for this. She is a magnificently funny writer and I adore her. In fact, Rory (the raccoon from her cover) just happens to be the background on my computer screen at work.

You thought I was kidding, didn't you?

Jenny is funny and real and awesome. I'm pretty sure she's my spirit animal in human form. We should totally be BFFs.

Once again though, ratings would have to prevail. And thus...regardless of how much I love Jenny, the winner for this round is the very wonderful Nothing Like Looking by Chris Van Hakes.

3. Looking for Alaska by John Green (4 stars) vs. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman (4 stars)

The last painful pairing in this round was the pitting of John Green's Looking for Alaska against Alyson Richman's The Lost Wife. Both of these were fantastic dramas and (unlike the earlier mentioned pairs) both were rated the same, making this choice a bit tougher.

Looking for Alaska is sad and haunting and the amazing freshman novel of John Green's that I had been considering reading for quite a long time. It didn't quite do 5 stars for me, but it was certainly worth the read and will probably warrant a reread in the future. (Side note...I'm a fan of the name Alaska and actually had a conversation regarding that toward the end of last year.) Looking for Alaska got me out of a reading slump and helped me actually accomplish some reading in 2015. It definitely holds up as a good book.

The Lost Wife was another novel I had totally stalled on reading. This one was recommended to me (and lent to me) by Patti. It sat in my nightstand for several months, got put on the TBR list for several read-a-thons, and somehow just failed to see the light of day. I don't know what in the world I was thinking. It's a beautifully haunting story that totally broke my heart. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but the ending led me to drop it to 4 stars based on a lack of closure. The writing is solid, I just have issues about endings that remain mildly open. It's a pet peeve.

Based on my pet peeve revelation, it should be no surprise then that the ultimate winner in this round (and the book moving on to the Elite Eight) is Looking for Alaska by John Green.

And...with those difficult choices and sacrifices out of the way...here are this year's Elite Eight. 

Tomorrow it gets ugly. Four competitions and three of them are painful. As if enough book blood hasn't already been spilled, tomorrow gets cutthroat. Brace yourselves...the Final Four is coming.

It's Official! 2012 Book of the Year.

Well...I got a little waylaid this evening so I'm starting this post a little bit later than planned. What waylaid me, you ask? Facebook. Yup. Really. I just spent an hour reading through posts. Oops. 

In my defense, it's been a long and very rough day. I could seriously just curl up into a ball and go to sleep. But I will soldier on...you deserve to know my pick for the 2012 Book of the Year before the year 2014.

Here's where I left you...

Let's start with getting to the final four. What a sad time...four more books will need to be eliminated.

Match #1 :

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern vs. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

These books are both in my list of favorites. I hated to make the decision on this one. But...in the end I had to default to my girl crush. I just can't say no to Jenny.

Match 1 goes to...

Match #2 :

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare vs. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

I don't know what it is about The Shoemaker's Wife, but that book seems to make me very indecisive. I once again changed the winner of this bracket back and forth a pile of times before deciding on a winner. Obviously it was a pretty tight race. In the end though, it was defeated. 

Match 2 goes to...

Match #3 : 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green vs. Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Oh...look at that...Erin's two picks for the year are running against each other. Yup...she suggested both of these books - thus working her way towards redeeming herself from One Day. Yes...I am still holding it over her for that one. 

I'm sure even Erin knows which one of these books wins. Though they are both very good, this won really wasn't a contest. 

Winner of Match 3 is...

Match #4 :

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare vs. The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean

Yup. This one was tough. Like Match #2, this one kept getting tossed back and forth. Cassandra Clare, you are a trouble maker. I really enjoyed The Secret Lives of Dresses, but in the end...it comes down to the stars. No...not those stars...the rating stars. City of Fallen Angels was given 5 stars, The Secret Lives of Dresses was given 4. There you have it.

Match 4 goes to...

Phew. Down to four. Congratulations to Cassandra Clare for taking 2 of the final four slots. Impressive.

Let's keep going...

Left Bracket :

Let's Pretend this Never Happened vs. City of Lost Souls

Oh, come on. You know where this is going... I'm not even going to drag this out.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner...

Right Bracket :

Secret Daughter vs. City of Fallen Angels

Unfortunately, this is where Cassandra Clare's winning streak ends. Secret Daughter is just too amazing to not keep going.

Right side winner...

It's like ripping off a band-aid; the quicker I go, the less painful it is to scrap these books from the list.

This is where it gets sticky. Two fabulous books...one winner. It pained me to make this decision. I read so many great books in 2012 that it has been crazy difficult to get it down to just these two. Either of them would be a great pick. Granted, they are from two completely opposite genres (memoir vs. fiction; comedy vs. drama), but both so wonderful.

And yet, in my heart I always knew who would win.




And so...




...the winner of the 2012 Book of the Year...




...is...

Jenny is just wonderful. I love her. Perhaps a little too much. But she just makes me oh so happy.

Sorry Erin...better luck next year. :)

2012 BOTY Semifinals

Here's where we left off last time...

Today, it's on to round two. We have our sweet sixteen. Now they get whittled down to eight. It's going to be brutal...

Match up #1: 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern vs. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling.

Both of these books garnered 5 stars and both are excellent reads. 

The Night Circus is whimsical and fun. I loved it very much and it reminded me somewhat of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I love the fact that it was able to be mystical without going over the top and seeming silly. It read very fast and I would absolutely read it again. 

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is a really cute comedic novel. Mindy Kaling tells short stories from her life in a way that just makes you giggle. She's fantastic. She writes with a laid back and semi-sarcastic style that just made me love her. I laughed out loud several times and sped right through it.

This was a pretty tight race. Both books are seriously excellent and are very welcome in my own personal library. But...there has to be a winner. So, just basing it on which book I would grab first to read again, the winner of match #1 is...

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Match up #2:

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson vs. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

I hate to say it, but this match up was doomed from the start. Both of these books are great, but one is entering this round with a strong disadvantage.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened is a memoir based on Jenny Lawson's ridiculous life. She is hilarious and had me laughing out loud more or less consistently. It was to the point that I was taking photos of excerpts on my phone and texting them to Patti. I couldn't read it in public because I couldn't keep myself composed. I loved it more than I can tell you. Of course, I do have to explain that I may have a small girl crush on Jenny...so that might have worked in her favor.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a really cute southern style novel. It is really fun and light-hearted. The characters are bubbly and wonderful. I really enjoyed the whole thing. It reminded me a lot of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Just fun southern women with some serious sass. 

Like I said, the deck was kind of stacked on this one. It's a tough one to beat. So...the winner of match up #2 is...

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Match up #3:

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen vs. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

I seem to be reading a lot of YA Fiction over the last little while. I just find it entertaining and relaxing. Some of the adult fiction can get so stuffy.

The Sugar Queen was the second of Sarah Addison Allen's books that I read in 2012. I love her style. She is very simple, but with an air of mystery. It's marvelous. She is so fun to read that I wound up reading four of her books last year. Yes...she's that good. The books read very quickly and hook you quite easily.

City of Lost Souls was the third of Cassandra Clare's books in 2012. I also read four of her novels last year. Kind of a crazy coincidence that the two end up pitted against each other. City of Lost Souls is the 5th novel in Clare's The Mortal Instruments series. The books are filled with action and suspense, but they are mellow at the same time. I read her books terribly quickly, only frustrated by the fact that there is still at least one more book to come in the series. Ah, the danger of reading serial books.

This was a really good match up. Either of these books would be a great easy weekend or rainy day read. Once again, a difficult decision to make. There are some really good books in the 2012 BOTY list.  The winner of match #3 is...

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Match up #4:

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani vs. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

I'm finding this very hard to do. There are such great books here. In fact, it's kind of making me want to read some of them again. I hope that this year yields such a good group.

The Shoemaker's Wife is just an adorable love story. It stretches decades and continents. It is in the perfect time period for me (turn of the 20th century). I loved the characters. I mean LOVED them. This was one of the books where the characters started to feel like real people. I wanted to know more about them and I was sad when the book ended and I had to leave them.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon was the first Sarah Addison Allen book I read. I'll be honest here and admit that I picked it for the cover. I had never heard of Allen before, nor the titles of any of her books. I enjoyed this book so much that I wound up reading three more of her novels before the year was out. I'm hooked.

I struggled over this one and bounced back and forth on the winner a couple of times. There are versions of the bracket with each as a winner. But ultimately, I had to put my foot down and put one above the other. Winner of match #4...

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Match up #5:

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay vs. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Now we've entered the right side of the bracket. I'm glad we're half way. This is seriously making me uptight. It's so hard to let a good book go in the loss pile. It's a sad state of affairs.

Criminy. These are both crazy good as well. 

Sarah's Key requires a bit of a strong constitution. It is a difficult read (from an emotional standpoint), but a good one. I typically don't seek out WWII era historical fiction as a favorite, but this one was flat out amazing. Dramatic and poignant and just beautifully written.

The Fault in Our Stars was kind of a surprise for me. For some reason, I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. Maybe I was judging it harshly because it's YA fiction. Perhaps because of that I held it to a lower standard. Whatever the case, this one was wonderful. I couldn't put it down. In fact, the first line of my Goodreads review?  READ THIS BOOK. 

The winner of the very emotional match up #5...

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Match up #6:

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda vs. Ape House by Sara Gruen

Okay...seriously...you pretty much just need to read all of the books on this list. Every time I move to the next section of the bracket all I can think is, "oooh...that book was soooo good." It's killing me.

Secret Daughter was a book I read because Erin would NOT shut up about it. She kept telling me to read it and I kept telling her I had a stack of books planned. I finally caved. Holy crap. This book is amazing. I loved it. Like...LOVED it. I took it to work with me to read in down time. (I never take books to work.) I couldn't wait for my lunch hour so I could get a few more pages in. I read until 2 A.M. a couple of times on work nights because I couldn't put it down. It was just fantastic.

I read Ape House simply because it was written by Sara Gruen and I had adored Water for Elephants. It wasn't what I expected and was totally different from Water for Elephants, but it was still great. In fact, I think I liked it better than Water for Elephants. Yup...it was that good.

But...once again Erin comes through with a winner. Match #6 is taken by...

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Match up #7:

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare vs. Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

I've discovered that this is much easier to do on my lunch break, when I don't have a ten-year-old hovering over me asking me to check spelling words and querying as to whether I would like to watch the TV show that I am currently obviously watching or if he can play Skylanders. Oy.

City of Fallen Angels is the 4th book in The Mortal Instruments. Like I stated earlier, this series is awesome. It reminds me of the Twilight series, but with less sparkling and a less whiny heroine. I'm a fan. I am currently not-so-patiently waiting for the 6th book in the series to be released...in 2014. Aaaarrrrgghh!

Eight Keys was recommended/lent by Patti. She won it as a FirstReads win on Goodreads. This book is a really cute read. It would be great for anyone from middle school age to adulthood. It's very well done. I quite enjoyed it.

For the second time in the 2012 BOTY, Cassandra Clare pulls ahead. Pretty impressive. The winner of match up #7 is...

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Match up #8:

The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean vs. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

We've made it to the final section of the bracket!! Yay!!!

Both of these books are super cute reads. They're both very girly, but I loved them. 

The Secret Lives of Dresses was fun to read and one of those books that you're sad to have end. It was mildly more ChickLit than I typically like (read: the main character can be a little whiny and occasionally predictable), but I still had a good time reading it. It had a super sweet premise and I just wanted to know more.

Garden Spells is yet another Sarah Addison Allen novel. I'm telling you, this girl can rock it. I just really enjoy her writing. It's like CoverGirl...easy and breezy. Magnificent. I can read her books in one sitting and they've all let me wanting for more.

And the winner of the final match up (#8) is...

Tada!!! And we have eight! I have to tell you...not the easiest decisions to make. I still stand by the fact that any of the books in this bracket are worth the read.

Tomorrow...the final four and the announcement of the 2012 BOTY. Hooray!!

Summary Sunday: Prepping Edition

BIG post coming tomorrow. The big shopping trip has been completed and I'm going to share all of the details with you. Because I'm saving all the info for tomorrow, today's post will be somewhat short. (And by short I apparently mean kind of normal sized. Geez.)

This week was hectic as usual, with Collin working weird hours and Darian having three days of field trips. (I'm going to let him do a post about his trips next week, but I haven't told him that yet.) I spent the majority of the week prepping for the shopping trip as well as the shopping trip aftermath. This evening I also managed to repair our dryer and located the problem with our washer...which I'm hoping will be a cheap fix.

Now on with the other stuff I did...

Posts I Posted: With all my time being used up, it was a quiet week on the blog. But...I did share a review of the best book ever by the woman who has become my girl crush. I also finally got around to showing another week of Project Life...a project which is haunting me from the corner of the scrapbook room. The guilt of being behind is killing me.

Books I Read: I finished reading The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty and will be reviewing it soon. I have to say, it surprised me. I am now reading East of Denver by Gregory Hill. Both of these books were Goodreads wins.

Recipes I Tried: I did some crazy work with croissants this week that I'll be sharing in a few days. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier!

Projects I Finished: I fixed the flipping dryer people! It has been getting worse and worse, taking more and more cycles to get our clothes dry. Collin and I pulled it apart once before to try and repair it, but my hand couldn't reach far enough in the vent to pull out what we assumed was a lint blockage. Carole sent us a brush kit a couple of months ago and I kept asking Collin to help me...but he's rarely home. Tonight Darian informed me that he had NO pants for school tomorrow. Apparently half of his jeans are missing. What the crap?!? I knew I didn't have time to deal with our crap dryer so I pulled it out, took it apart from both inside and outside and cleaned the vent from both directions. Voila! I just pulled out a dry load of jeans after ONE cycle. I'm pretty proud of myself right now.

And that's it. That's all you get. Well...that and this...

I saw these yesterday while Darian and I were at Target. I was sorely tempted to buy them. Now normally I'm pretty boring and conservative about my clothes - nothing too flashy. But these spoke to me. I tried them on with my jeans. So much fun. I think they just might be on my wishlist.

2012 BOTY : Let's Pretend This Never Happened (a Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson

Source

Okay. I am literally giddy right now. It's ridiculous. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Jenny Lawson? Umm...because I do. It's a mostly healthy obsession. I promise. There isn't any stalking involved.

I bought this book as a preorder. Why, you ask? Well...because: (1) Why wouldn't you?, (2) Any book with a stuffed mouse on the cover should automatically go in the shopping card immediately, (3) I wanted not only the book, but...this...

Yup. That's right. Jenny's signature. And much like Elmyra I will hug it and squeeze it and love it forever (raise your hand if you get that reference).

Before I even read the book, I was already protective. It has become My Precious. When friends asked if they could borrow it after I read it, my response was "you must treat it like a newborn baby. No food, liquid or small children within a 10 foot radius." 

I'm not kidding people. There might be a shrine erected. 

In fact, in light of now considering the lending it out...I'm gonna go with...you come to the book. It's a win-win really. You get a break from your kids and hang out in my library reading my fabulous book and my book stays safely within the cocoon of my house. Yup. Seems like a good plan.

So now you're asking, ya...but what's it about? Is it even any good? Fine. I guess I'll do the review.

If you haven't been over to Jenny's blog, go. Do it. Now. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I'll wait. That's right. Awesome. This is the woman who brought you Copernicus the Homicidal Monkey and Beyonce the Giant Metal Chicken. She pretty much rules.

In the book, Jenny talks about being raised by a professional taxidermist father and a woman who I can only assume is a patron saint in a town the size of a postage stamp. Her stories are hysterical. I laughed out loud repeatedly. She is creative and witty and just plain fun. I've told Collin that we need to move to Texas. I might need her to be my best friend. (I still love you Patti, but...well...you know.) If you are easily offended by rough language, well...you're gonna have to get over it because you need to read this. Seriously. My arms are crossed and I'm staring you down.

I'm not sure what else to say that wouldn't either (a) ruin some of the fun that is this book or (b) just really put doubt on the whole "healthy obsession" comment. Basically...I loved this book. I am in love with this book. I could potentially read it again immediately and then again next week. Remember how I loved Betty White and Mindy Kaling? Okay...multiply that by about 1,000. That's how much I love her. Crap. I'm really not doing well at keeping this to a non-hysterical level. 

If you think this book gets anything less than five stars...well, then you clearly haven't been paying attention. It's 5 out of 5 stars people.

Now...to end this thing like a true Reading Rainbow book review...run, don't walk, to your local bookstore and buy this book. You won't have a cool signed bookplate like me, but you'll have the book. It's worth it. But you don't have to take my word for it. (Ba da ba.) 

Summary Monday: Couch Edition

I've been super lazy today. I'm not going to lie. It was a fun weekend, but I woke up this morning not feeling so hot. Thank goodness I didn't have to work today. I had a pile of plans for things I was going to accomplish. Instead, I got the dishwasher emptied and completed one load of laundry. *sigh*

At least I wasn't the only lazy one...

But I had to get a post finished. It's going to be a busy week and I have at least three other posts planned for the next couple of days.

Darian has a week full of field trips, so it's going to be fun for him, but busy for me. He'll be doing the regular zoo/museum field trip on Wednesday followed by their special two day field trip on Thursday/Friday. Not only does this mean getting things together in order to pack him up for an overnight stay, I have two sack lunches and a sack dinner to prepare. I'm going to have to get creative...especially since...it's time to go shopping again.

Remember that big shopping run I did back at the end of January? Well, it has lasted until now...a full five weeks longer than the original plan. Some of this was due to eating out and some due to using leftovers, but a lot of it had to do with simply using my stash more creatively. Including that trip, groceries for the last three and a half months have ended up costing us about $600 (after adding up the produce, dairy and extra cereal stocking up I did during that time). It works out to about $175 per month or $40/week. But all good things must come to an end. So...I'll be spending a good chunk of time this week prepping for my next run. I'm not sure when I'm going to hit the store, since I'm working Friday. I have a bad feeling that it will have to be Saturday, since Collin will be working on Friday night. I will definitely need two people for cart wrangling.

I'm getting nervous about it now. Let's not talk about it any more. Instead, here's what happened last week:

Posts I Posted: I started off a lot stronger than the week before, but quickly petered into nothingness as Collin's mom came into town and we spent a lot of time hanging out together, celebrating her birthday and preemptively celebrating Mothers' Day. Before I disappeared, I posted a crazy, rambling post from my phone about my badly behaving dogs, as well as two book reviews. I warned you about the drudgery of Girls in White Dresses. Don't be suckered in by the cute cover. Remember how that worked out with Lift? I also played compromise with my rating of the clever, but complicated Ella Minnow Pea.


Books I Read: I finished reading Philippa Gregory's The Lady of the Rivers, her third book in her Cousins' War series. I really enjoyed it. Its review will be one of this week's posts. I think I might also have to update the bracket with that post. But before I get to that, I will be reviewing (drum roll please) Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend this Never Happened. I am still giddy about this one. I am currently reading The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty.

Recipes I Tried: I made Crockpot Pineapple Chicken. Not too shabby. The best part? It took me all of 5 minutes to throw in the pot. Very little prep required. I also revisited Peanut Sesame Noodles and Cheap Korean Beef. Total prep time for both of those recipes done together: about 20 minutes. Yay for easy. I made some pretty darned good chocolate/butterscotch pancakes, but forgot to take pictures. So...I guess I'll be making those again. I'm sure Darian will have a good cry over that one. They were delicious. I paired them with some crack bacon. Not the healthiest dinner we've ever eaten.

There. I have done my duty for the day. I'm going to go see if I can get my second load of laundry in the dryer. After that I think it might be some iPhone gaming and a little more reading before bed.

Summary Su...Monday: Let's Pretend This Never Happened Edition

Okay...ya...I know it's Monday. Yesterday was crazy. We headed out at 7am to host an EMT National Registry test at Collin's office and by the time we got back home last night I was too pooped to write. I did, however have the privilege of being strapped down to a backboard about...oh...eight to ten times...so that was fun. (Insert sarcasm here.)

This was pretty much the highlight of the week :

Yup...that's right. It showed up on my doorstep last week and I have been loving on it ever since. It also helps add to the excitement that this showed up a few days before :

So now I have Jenny's autograph glued to the inside of the book. Yay!

I'm currently reading it and both Patti and Erin have asked to borrow it. I'm finding that I'm awfully protective of my new little treasure. There will be restrictions and I've told both of them that they must treat it like a newborn baby. This seriously might currently be my most prized possession. (I'm a little obsessed. How obsessed, you ask? I considered telling them that they would have to come over and read it here in my library just so it wouldn't leave the premises. Ya...I know...)

What else happened this week? Well...let's review...

Posts I Posted : It was another book week, with reviews of funny lady Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and other concerns) as well as the super cute and tear-inducing young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Amazingly enough, I actually posted a project as well. Not even just a project...a tutorial (sort of). I showed you how I made Abigail's teddy bear from my couch cushions and Collin's pants.

Books I Read : I finished up Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close and Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. Reviews will be coming shortly. I'm currently reading Let's Pretend this Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson. Let me tell you...awesome. I love her. We should be neighbors. She'd be way more fun than crazy neighbor. Especially since he returned from his secret disappearance (which we assume was rehab) and has been far too quiet and boring.

Recipes I Tried : I made Tuscan Chicken with Tomato Basil Cream. I was really excited to try this one because it sounded so simple. Ya...it was simple...and tasted pretty simple too. I can make something just as easy that tastes better. It's off the list. Bummer. What a let down.

Projects I Finished : We are SO not even going to talk about Project Life. I finished two weeks' worth of journaling. I'm still a boat load behind. Enough said.

I did get a bit of a present this week though. You know the Big Secret Project? Well...it involves some woodworking and remodeling of a furniture item. I managed to see another similar item last week...sitting out on someone's curb for the garbage man. I mentioned it to Collin and he picked it up for me (after asking the people if it was okay, of course). So I now have another similar furniture item that I will be remodeling as well. That should take care of one little girl's birthday present and another one's Christmas gift. Yay! Oh...and thus far, I'm into both gifts a total of $15. I'm just that awesome. And that's all the info you get for now. (I'm doing SO well at keeping this a - kind of - secret.)

Alright, well...I'm done with being indoors for now. I'm going to go see if I can figure out how to get some sun tea brewing on my patio while I continue to read Jenny's book and veg out in the lovely weather. (It's freaking 90 degrees here people! I have to enjoy it before it goes back to 60 on Thursday.)

Summary Sunday: Sawdust Edition

I need more weekend days. I love them. Don't you? I can lay around for a few hours and still feel like I get a ton of stuff done in a day. It's fantastic.

So this week had some pretty decent ups and downs. Collin's birthday was Thursday and we had a nice sushi dinner and beer with friends on Friday night. But the best thing of the week? You're going to be so jealous... Look what showed up in the mail!!

I am really, really excited. You'd think I was going to Disneyland. Not only do I have this autographed bookplate, my copy of Jenny Lawson's (AKA The Bloggess) book should be arriving next week. I can't WAIT!

Unfortunately...the entire week wasn't all sunshine and unicorns. Darian is still being an issue. His teacher sends the students home every day with an "agenda" that tells what they did during the day and what work needs to be done. Since we'd been having issues with him selectively writing things down, he has been having his agenda checked and signed by the teacher daily. 

I had noticed some erasing earlier this week and questioned him on it...to which he replied, "Oh, I just wrote it down wrong." I let it pass (because I am obviously a gullible idiot). Friday however, I noticed more of this erasing. I was already suspicious since he had miraculously only had one homework assignment all week. I chalked some of it up to his ISAT testing on Monday and an outdoors all-day project "Wagons Ho!" on Wednesday. This time though...I could see "Assignment 83" through the erasing in the math section. Funny...he did Assignment 81 earlier in the week... 

Yup, you guessed it. He was writing everything down as instructed, getting the signature of his teacher and then erasing what needed to be done. The only reason he did his earlier math assignment is because she had drawn an arrow with "make sure this is finished" next to the line. He was smart enough to know he couldn't fudge that one. Even better...I opened his math notebook to find that he had completed nearly half the assignment and then erased it. Seriously?!!? When I asked him how many problems he would've had left if he used that erasing time to do the assignment instead his answer was, "One or Two." Ugh. *facepalm*

So...I took him back over to the school on Friday and had the office staff open the classroom so that we could retrieve the work he "didn't feel like doing". Nice try, kiddo.

I'm going in to talk to his teacher in the morning. From now on he will be writing his agenda in pen. Oh...and what has he been doing in school instead of his work? Reading, of course. I'm glad that he enjoys reading, but this is getting ridiculous. I found three library books in his desk and one in his backpack. So...I will also be visiting the librarian to strip him of his library privileges. Reading for coursework. That's it. 

Adventures in parenting are so fun...

Okay...let's get back to the happy stuff...I'd like to keep some hair attached to my head rather than pulling it all out.

Posts I Posted: Apparently Darian isn't the only one who likes reading. I managed to put out a slew of book review posts this week. I talked about my two newest Goodreads wins: A Gift for My Sister and Elza's Kitchen. I also hijacked one of Patti's Goodreads wins and reviewed the YA novel, Eight Keys. And...lest you think reading is all I do as well...I was oh so kind as to give you Week 2 of Project Life.

Books I Read: With all those reviews you'd think I'd be caught up. Nope. I am currently one book behind my goal on Goodreads and I have two books that I've finished that I still need to review. Those finished books? Both excellent reads : Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Projects I Finished: Because I am SOOO behind on Project Life, I finally sat down and completed two weeks' worth of journaling. Yup...that's right...two. So now I'm only six weeks behind. Oy. I see a lot of journaling in my future. 

Since I've been avoiding journaling for about the last 36 hours, I've been spending time working on the Big Secret Project of the year. I have to call it that because I'm totally going to blow it here in the next couple of weeks and show you what I'm making. I'm a braggart like that. But I have managed to dismantle some pieces that needed removal and I'm nearly done with sanding. That's right, sanding. I'm using some serious power tools for this project. (I'm a little scared...) I am covered in a fine layer of dust and learned that sometimes safety rules are helpful...like say wearing glasses and a mask while sanding. Sawdust under contacts and in the lungs is not so fun...

Recipes I Tried: I made Easter dinner last weekend and I was totally not wanting to go buy a ham. Instead, I busted out some pork tenderloin from the freezer and made my very own "Crack Bacon" tenderloin. It was quite yummy. A little infusing of the brown sugar/honey/pepper mixture and I think we'll have a very strong winner.

Phew! Not bad for bouncing back from inactivity! I think the rest of this afternoon might be spent reading and otherwise avoiding journaling...I'm getting so good at it.

Summary...Wednesday??: Just Go With It Edition

Well, hello again.

I've been MIA for a bit, but I'm hoping that things will kind of get into a routine now. Last week was pretty hectic for us and we spent every spare moment together as a family in preparation for the next two weeks. Collin left today to go work as a medic up at a mine site about six hours away. We won't see him again until very late next Friday night. We have some contact via Skype, but the reception is iffy as they are constantly getting piled on by snow. This will be his third run at the mine. It's hard on us as a family to be apart, but it's worth it to keep our house running.

As promised, I have totally crapped out on projects. (If it helps I've also crapped out on blog reading and now have 312 posts to sort through.) But...I did purchase a gem of an item yesterday that will be a fantastic project to work on over the next few months. I may give you sneak peeks as I go, but I'm going to putting together Miss Marley's birthday present for November. Yes, it's a long time away...but it's going to take me a while. It's a doozy of a project. I'm super excited to do it though.

Even though there have been no projects, I've still been reading. So you'll get a few book reviews from me over the next few days. Darian has also finally managed to get himself ungrounded so I think he has a few to share as well. I also finally received my pocket pages for Project Life. This means I can put together the last few weeks and finally show you what I've been working on. 

In the meantime, here is another lovely gem from my girl crush, Jenny (AKA The Bloggess).

Because he's just that awesome.

Go read the post. It's SOOO worth it. Come on...look at that picture. You know you want more!

Summary Sunday - Superbowl Sunday Edition

Superbowl Sunday has now come and technically gone. I'm not really one for professional football and I typically watch the game just for the commercials, but I have to admit that the game was a pretty good one. As for the commercials, eh...not bad. A couple of good ones in there. I enjoyed the bribing Doritos dog, the first Acura owner and of course the Matthew Broderick CRV commercial. Also, high five to NBC for using Betty White in their commercial for The Voice. Anything with Betty White is an automatic win.

Now...let's take just a moment to discuss the halftime show and then we'll move on. I like Madonna, really...I do. I like her older stuff better than her more recent works, but I think she's a good singer. I thought she had the potential to put on an amazing show. But...when you lip sync the entire thing in a way that becomes obvious ten seconds into it...I lose interest and, quite honestly, some respect for you. Oh Madge, I held you to a higher standard.  Also, maybe you should've discussed with MIA how to behave properly during a Superbowl show. Thanks for the cursing and middle finger salute. You really brought maturity to the table there. Thanks. Heaven knows we're now going to hear about that for the next week. Pathetic.

Okay...that part's done now. Moving on...

I busted out my huge shopping run and got enough groceries to get us through the next two months and then some (excluding the produce and dairy we may need to replenish along the way).  I'm pretty proud of myself. My meal plan includes a bunch of new recipes and a large portion of crockpot recipes. I got quite a lot of food, including a ton of meat and cheeses. Plus, I estimated really well. Once I figured out my recipes and the special items I wanted to buy, I expected to walk away at around $400. Our final total? $398.78. I'm happy with that. If things work out like I expect them to, that will put us at around $175 per month. That works out to less than $2 per meal and most of those meals will leave leftovers.

Collin worked a lot this week and I spent a good chunk of my time trying to fix his office books for the accountant (there were some issues with how inventory has been being entered). All in all, by Saturday morning we had spent about four hours together this week. We did however get to relax yesterday evening and spend some time together on the couch. Thanks to Costco, we also had some yummy red velvet cake. But...back to work he went today. He may be home on Wednesday. If not, we won't see him again until Friday. It's a completely nutso schedule, but we just keep plodding along. One of these days we'll be rewarded by having our debt paid off.

I also made a couple of noteworthy purchases this week. Using the money I had left on my Barnes & Noble giftcard, I marched right out to their website and preordered Let's Pretend This Never Happened...the memoir written by Jenny Lawson (you know, The Bloggess, my girl crush). I'm super excited for it to get here, but I have to be patient. Delivery is expected around April 17th. And yes, that's right...I gave you a link...because I know you all will want it too.

The second purchase...a new carpet cleaner. I've been absolutely distraught since my Hoover Agility took a dive back in November. It's been hard to part with that loss. It was such a good little trooper. So...after much time and patience, I finally worked up the nerve (read: had a complete mental breakdown and became obsessive when it became evident that everyone around here was out to destroy my carpet) to go out and find a new one. My new Bissell should arrive next week. I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm pretty sure it will be amazing.

Here's what else I was up to this week :

Posts I Posted : I busted out not one, but two tutorials. I'm pretty darned proud of myself. I taught you how to make bottlecap coasters for the men and decoupaged paper & photo coasters for the ladies. I'm inclined to like both of them, but the photo ones make me particularly happy.

I also received the Liebster Blog Award and passed it on to five of my blogging friends.

Darian also posted a review for you on Fever 1793. This was his first review of an assigned book. I think he did pretty well, but he obviously doesn't have the appreciation for historical fiction that I do.

Projects I Finished : Because I am apparently not the type to think while I work, I was forced to make new models for my tutorials this week in order to get the photos I needed. So...I busted out a few coasters. They're not technically finished yet, but they're pretty stinking close. I also finished a scarf for a cute little girl. You may remember that I gave this purple scarf to my friend Erin for Christmas.

Well...her adorable daughter decided she loved it and was modeling it around their house shortly after I gave it to her mother. I decided that maybe the little diva needed her own. So hers is basically a reverse of her mother's. Whereas Erin's is purple with a hint of fuschia, hers is fuschia with a hint of purple. I know, cute right? I did make one mistake and made it slightly wider than I should have, but I made the length slightly shorter so it will fit her fairly comfortably. We'll see how she likes it when I give it to her tomorrow.

Books I Read : I finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It was fantastic! I'll be doing a review on it later this week. I am now reading Once on a Moonless Night by Dai Sijie. It's a bit of a departure from what I normally read, but it is technically historical fiction. It's been a challenging read, but I hope to be able to finish it either tonight or tomorrow so that I can stay on task with my BOTY goal.

Recipes I Tried : Meh. I didn't make anything new other than the Crockpot Sesame Chicken that we tried last Sunday. I did make one of our easy family staples, though. For lack of a better term, we call it goulash. Now don't get all technical with me...just go with it. It's super easy to make. Cook one box of Macaroni & Cheese according to the box directions. Add in one can of chili and one can of diced tomatoes. Tada. See...easy. And it's good...I promise.

I don't have any favorite blog posts for you this week...for two reasons. 1 - I spent a good portion of my evenings getting ready for my grocery run...and 2 - I forgot to star the ones I liked. Oops. I warned you, my memory is crap. Oh well, maybe next week.