What A Weekend

Why does Monday come around so quickly? It seems I'm just starting to enjoy my weekend when BAM it's over!

Saturday my husband had to work so my youngest son and I sat around the house and did nothing. We had all these big plans to go and do, but we ended up going nowhere and doing nothing! It was kind of relaxing but at the same time I wish we had gotten some motivation. When you go from 60 degrees and sunshine on Friday to 3 inches of snow and 30 degrees on Saturday, it knocks the wind out of your sails and sits you on the couch again. I didn't even work out! But I did make pancakes in the morning. Priorities....

Saturday late afternoon definitely made up for the lack of anything that morning. My son went to his dad's house and when hubby got home from work we ran ran ran. We made some Goodwill and Salvation Army runs, went to Marshall's and TJ Maxx, Dick's Sporting Goods, Gander Mountain and finally Red Robin's for a nice gardenburger dinner, where we caught the tail end of Northern Iowa surprising the bejeezus out of Kansas! Our shopping mission was to find a nice backpack and water-type hiking sandals/shoes for me for our October trip to Yelapa, Mexico. We are going to go all-natural on this trip. No resort, no room service, no all you can eat buffet. Hell, there aren't even any walls, doors or windows where we are staying! We are packing 7 days and 6 nights worth of clothes and toiletries into backpacks! I'm so excited. We didn't find what I was looking for Saturday night but we did get some good bargains at the thrift stores. We decided that on Sunday we would make a quick run to our nearby outlet mall, about an hour away.

Sunday dawns, we get up and head out the door. I'm feeling optimistic about having my husband drive (at least back home) so I bring my book to read! That didn't happen but I did get a lot of reading in Sunday evening. I also got a lot of shopping done at the outlet mall--three pair of shoes, a couple of shirts for work and a new purse that I didn't need. I'm a sucker for a bargain. I must have that written across my forehead. When I hear DISCOUNT I already have my debit card out and poised to swipe!

I wish there were some discounts on travel right now. Tonight I'm booking the plane tickets and the 'condo' in Yelapa. I got my water sandals yesterday and I've narrowed down my backpack selection. We're ready to roll. But since I don't want to wish my summer away I think I'll just keep dreaming about the trip and enjoy the time until then.

I sent out two more books via paperbackswap.com. I've already sent four that I'm waiting for credits to appear and then I'll have a total of seven credits! Seven more books to find, request and then add to my ever growing tbr pile! And I recently won another book from a different blog. I love giveaways! What's the best thing you've ever won?

Tonight I'm making tofu and sticky rice. I can't wait to get home and COOK! Got any recipes to share? I'm always looking for new vegetarian ideas!

Book Blogs

I am having so much fun perusing all the blogs looking for other book blogs (which I can't type propertly - I keep typing BOOB blogs which is probably a whole other realm of blogging).

I find that it is very difficult finding blogs of other readers who enjoy the same types of books that I do. However, it is very fun reading what others enjoy!

Today I visited one of my favorite blogs - All about (N) and lo and behold she had a comment posted by another blogger. I clicked on her link which took me to Alaine - Queen of Happy Endings.

She has a giveaway for March. And three out of the four books are on my MUST read list. Being the book nerd that I am I have an entire notebook filled with books that I have read, books that I want to read, books that are similar to other books that I have read that I want to read and books that are on my list that I already OWN but haven't read yet. It's exhausting. If I read more and listed less I'd have read half of these already! Anyhoo - check out Alaine's blog and enter yourself into the contest. Although technically I'd rather win one of these books myself! Sarah Addison Allen's new book "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" is on the list. LOVE me some SAA. Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen were so quirky and adorable. Jodi Picoult's new book "House Rules" is on the list. I have read just about all of Picoult's novels. The Pact is probably my absolute favorite. The third option is "The Reliable Wife" by Robert Goolrich. It has received mixed reviews but I still want to read it. And the fourth book is "Twilight The Graphic Novel". For those interested in graphic novels I'm sure this would be a winner!

As for me, I should probably get back to reading my current book so I can move on to one of the others on my list. I'll have to post a pic of my list AND a pic of all my bookshelves around the house. I have finally gotten the nerve to start purging the books that I've already read. I use the great service Paperbackswap.com. What an awesome, ingenious concept! You post books you no longer want, people contact you to request those books, you send the book out to them and once they receive it, they give you a 'credit' to your account. Then, with your credit, you can request a book from someone else and they send it to you, etc etc. Each mailing OUT costs about $2.38 but you only pay for the books you send OUT not the ones sent to you. Beats buying books at the bookstore...of course it's not FREE like the library but sometimes the library doesn't work for me. I have two books sitting on my nightstand that I have to give back to the library because I just didn't get around to reading them. BUT the books from paperbackswap.com are all on my bookshelf. And they are not going anywhere. Although they do keep eyeing me. Like right now, while I'm typing away on the computer. I can almost hear them saying "shouldn't she be reading us instead of surfing the internet?".. yeah yeah, I know. OK, I'm off to read. Happy Saturday, everyone