The Simple Woman's Daybook -- March 12, 2011

Hosted by Peggy at:
http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...  Sun and signs of spring -- I'm really enjoying house-sitting in a house with so many windows.

I am thinking...  that I need to get back into the habit of wearing sunscreen.

I am thankful for... the people I'd never have met and the experiences I never would have had if I hadn't moved to Denver in 2006.

From the learning rooms... thinking about whether working at a bank is really something I could learn to be good at. . . .

From the kitchen... finished up the last of the salad yesterday and have some butternut squash still to heat -- and pretty sure I don't care for the fennel that's also in the fridge.

I am wearing... lavender fleece pants that were a hand-me-down from my friend Beth -- warm and super comfy -- and so are the pants!  ;)

I am creating... a clean fridge for the people I'm house-sitting for to come home to.

I am going... to be house-sitting until next Saturday or Sunday and it's really quite lovely.

I am reading... At Home by Bill Bryson and definitely enjoying it -- thought it's so big that it's becoming clear that I brought way too many other books along with me -- I'm not sure how many I'll even be able to get to!

I am hoping... that Jeremy and I will be able to sort through the apartment soon to figure out what we are doing with all of our joint belongings -- he's not feeling well today -- but maybe next week.  It will be good to have it behind us.

I am hearing... "Live" by The Kennedys playing on my Pandora radio station -- it's very lovely, you should all check it out.

Around the house... Some dishes to do and some zucchini to eat.

One of my favorite things... a hot bath in a quiet house.

A few plans for the rest of the week:   work on the sworn financial statement, think more about housing stuff, write to my brother, and clean the litterbox -- High excitement, I know.  :)

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

A picture I took of myself a few weeks ago -- my mom didn't recognize me when she saw it.

Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- The Case That Time Forgot by Tracy Barrett

Hosted by Katy.

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence.

At first, Xander Holmes thought that the slip of paper must have fallen out of his own notebook.  But even as he stooped to pick it up, he noticed details that most people wouldn't have seen.

Hosted by Freda.
Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

Their mom had been so distracted she hadn't even asked that question, or, for that matter, what the caller meant by "you'd better stop looking for it."

Still liking this series I'm reading with my daughter -- I appreciate the positive sibling interactions between the main characters.

Theme Thursdays -- Vehicle -- At Home by Bill Bryson

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

• A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
• Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
• Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
• It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
  Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week’s theme is – VEHICLE.

One maid in London complained that her employers made her change out of her work clothes and into something more presentable before being sent out into the street to hail a cab for them.

p.91, At Home by Bill Bryson

 

 

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Kathy over at Bermudaonion's Weblog hosts Wondrous Words Wednesday. If you come across a word (or two) while reading that is new to you and would like to share your new knowledge, then hop over to Kathy's place and link up! 

 

 

I've not participated in this one before, but found a delightful definition of Mesoamerica in Bill Bryson's At Home that I had to share.  :)

If, ten thousand years ago, you had been asked to guess which area of the world would be the seat of the greatest future civilizations, you would probably have settled on some part of Central or South America on the basis of the amazing things they were doing with food there.  Academics call this portion of the New World Mesoamerica, an accommodatingly vague term that could fairly be defined as Central America plus as much or as little of North and South America as are needed to support a hypothesis (page 38).

 

Teaser Tuesdays -- The Beast of Blackslope by Tracy Barrett

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"And stay where I can see you."  

But after leafing through the papers that were before and after the missing ones, they found nothing helpful.

~page 29-30, The Beast of Blackslope by Tracy Barrett

This is the second in The Sherlock Files series.  My daughter and I are enjoying them together (though I'm not loving this cover).

Redemption by Laurel Dewey

Redemption, by Laurel Dewey, was sent to me to review.  It is the second in her Jane Perry series.  Dewey introduces us to Perry, a detective for the Denver Police Department, in Protector (which I haven't read). When Redemption opens, Perry has resigned from the DPD and set up shop as a private investigator.

Kit Clark approaches Perry because Clark is convinced that the man who kidnapped and murdered her granddaughter 14 years ago has kidnapped another young girl.  Jane is less than impressed with Clark's theory (and her New Age leanings).  Taking the case nonetheless, she and Kit embark on a road trip from Colorado to California in an attempt to find the murderer and save the missing girl.

I enjoyed this thriller.  I was somewhat concerned that I'd feel lost, since I haven't read the first in the series, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I could keep up with the storyline. (Though I'm sure reading the first book would have given me more insight into Perry's demons from her past.)  The interactions between Kit and Jane were believable and I liked watching this odd couple turn into accepting friends with compassion toward each other.  I also enjoyed the local references, having lived in Denver for 5 years now.

I wouldn't mind going back and reading Protector and continuing to follow along with Dewey's series.

Theme Thursdays -- Furniture -- The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

• A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
• Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
• Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
• It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
  Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week’s theme is – FURNITURE.

The pub seemed like a cross between a bar and a restaurant.  There were small wooden tables all over, and a lot of people stood or sat at the bar, eating lunch.  The ones who weren't talking were watching soccer on the large TV.  A rushed-looking waitress waved them to a table, and when she had a chance to come over to them, she seemed pleased that they already knew what they wanted.  

~ pages 11-12, The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett

A very fun book my almost seven-year-old and I are reading.  Xena and Xander Holmes are siblings who've just learned they are Sherlock Holmes' descendants and are asked to solve his unsolved cases.  The first in a series.