The Readathon waits for no reader and I missed reading from 12-2:30 (playdate) and 4-7:15 (birthday party), so my 24 hours, if I make it that long will be minus almost 6 hours.

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now? Listening to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but after I post this I’m going to start a graphic novel.

2. How many books have you read so far? I’ve finished none, just listened to two, which is why I’m taking a couch break with a graphic novel.  I need to feel some sense of accomplishment 🙂

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?I’m looking forwardto finishing the two I’ve started, a few graphic novels and then we’ll see.  If my eyes are up to it, a Kristan Higgins romance, if not, a Harlan Coben audio.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? As I noted above, I had a few social obligations today, but ready to get my reading on for the next 12 hours!

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  I miss being in my jammies all day stuck on my couch.  Next time I’ll plan better.

It’s been slow going here, but I’ve managed to listen to 2 different books. I’m on disc 3 of The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag and maybe an hour in to The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Both are very good.  I’ve done lots of cleaning and am now ready to take a break and hang out with some friends 🙂

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon

It’s Readathon time!  I usually participate at least once a year, and today will be on a limited basis since we are having friends over for a few hours and then have a 4 hour birthday party to attend for a friend of Gage.  But I’d like to see if I can make it the whole 24 minus those 5 hours 🙂

Opening Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Just outside Cleveland, Ohio
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? Not sure. What do you think?

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Whatever I end up making for our visiting friends. I plan on lots of audio today.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!  I’m a forty-something wife and mother who loves to read.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?  I’ll be listening mostly today as I cook and clean for company.  This is the first time I signed up when I’ve had other obligations but I decided to not let that stop me.

Beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary turned 100 this week!  I think most of us have read at least one of her books.  Let’s see if you can unscramble some of her titles.

Leave your guesses in a comment.  Good luck!

No Googling or looking at other commenter answers.  Yes, we’re going by the honor system  Play every week or just one time, you are always welcome 🙂  It only takes once to be eligible for a prize.

1. ERAD  R.M  SHWAHEN Dear Mr. Henshaw
2. NAOMMAR  UIMQBY, EGA  8  Ramona Quimby, Age 8
3. RWYNAAU  LPRAH  Runaway Ralph
4. RYHEN  NDA  ZEEBUS  Henry and Beezus
5. BYSIR  Ribsy
6. HET  SOUME  DAN  ETH  ROOTMCCLRY   The Mouse and the Motorcycle
7. ONAMAR DNA SEPT  Ramona the Pest
8. SKOCS  Socks
9. CHIMT  NAD  YAM   Mitch and Amy
10. MAROAN  EVEORRF  Ramona Forever
    

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    Answers to last week’s 40 quiz are up.

 

Jason turns 40 tomorrow!  In honor of my younger half, this quiz is about bestselling authors who first published when they were 40 or older.  The best is yet to come 🙂

Leave your guesses in a comment.  Good luck!

No Googling or looking at other commenter answers.  Yes, we’re going by the honor system  Play every week or just one time, you are always welcome 🙂  It only takes once to be eligible for a prize.

1. She published “Little House in the Big Woods” at 64. Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. He was 66 when “Angela’s Ashes” was published.  Frank McCourt
3. He was 41 when his first novel, “Tom Sawyer” was published.  Mark Twain
4. She wrote “Black Beauty” at 57 when she was sick and she died a year later.  Anna Sewell
5. He was 50 when his first adult novel, “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” was published.  Alexander McCall Smith
6. She published her first novel, The Bluest Eye” at 40.  Toni Morrison
7. “Watership Down” was published when the author was 54.   Richard Adams
8. She published her first novel, “Adam Bede” at 40.  George Eliot
9. “The Big Sleep” the author’s first novel, was published at 51.  Raymond Chandler
10. Your turn-give me an over 40 success story!
    

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    Last week’s color quiz was fun and there were very few repeats!!

You all know that I love movies.  I do a regular post about the movies I watch every month and sometimes review a favorite film, but I’m interested in doing a bit more.  I’ve noticed that over the last few years quite a few book bloggers have posted about movies and am hoping that you may want to do something more organized with me.

I have two ideas and I’d like to know what you think and if you would be interested in participating on a regular basis.  Let me know if you’d be interested in one or both.  Or none, that’s okay too 🙂

Option 1 – Instead of a read-a-long we have a monthly Watch-a-thon.  I’d give everyone a few choices, we’d vote, all watch the movie and post about it during the month.  I have some ideas about how to make it more interactive between the participants.  I’d offer new and older movies to choose from and would like to make it somewhat bookish, but that’s not a requirement.

Option 2 – I’d offer something like the now defunct Monday Movie Meme.  I’d offer up a topic or theme and you’d write a post about it and link up.  You can browse through old ones I participated in here.  We could do this weekly or every other week.

So, is anyone interested or have any other suggestions?  Feel free to share this post with anyone who might be interested. The more the merrier!

 

My A Look Back post won’t be up until tomorrow but I’m posting my favorite quiz from March 2010 today. It’s a fun one and I get to participate again, yea!

Ever play the board game Scattergories?  This week’s game is a little like that.  At the beginning of the year I joined the Colorful Reading Challenge and I need to read 9 books with 9 different colors in the titles.  And I haven’t read any.  So, the game is for you to list up to 10 titles (& authors is possible, but not required) with 10 different colors in the titles. 

Like The Color Purple by Alice Walker could be one, but you couldn’t give me another purple title.  Also, if your title has 2 colors you can earn double points.

Where does Scattergories come in?  The title only counts if you are the only one who lists it.  If there are repeats no one gets points.

So, you may come up with 10 titles and get 0 points or give me one title and get 10 points.   Tricky, huh? I’m looking forward to seeing what titles you come up with.  Feel free to browse your own blogs or bestseller lists for ideas.  You have until Thursday night to submit your answers.

Leave your guesses in a comment.  Good luck!

No Googling or looking at other commenter answers.  Yes, we’re going by the honor system.  Play every week or just one time, you are always welcome   It only takes once to be eligible for a prize. 

For some reason  I thought this was next week, but that’s okay because I did record last Wednesday, March 16th.  A look into a random day of my life, chosen because I actually had time to make notes.  I know it’s tedious and boring, but it was interesting for me to see where I wasted my time. Although, not a typical day because reading for book group and book group itself took such a big chunk of it, I don’t think there ever is a typical day in the life of a stay at home mom 🙂

12:00-12:45 am It’s midnight and I get into bed.  Jason’s snoring (this is unusual) and it keeps me awake.  Watch/listen to 1 1/2 episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

12:45-1:45 am Sleep

1:45-2:15 am Loud storm wakes me up.  Both my guys can sleep through anything, but once Sammi realized I was awake she came to snuggle.

2:15-5:45 am Sleep

5:45 am Jason’s alarm goes off. Grrr.

6:15 am Jason wakes me back up to tell me goodbye and ask if I knew that I had made reservations for dinner and theater downtown on St. Patrick’s Day.  I hadn’t and I’m pretty sure a swear word was said before I set my phone for 30 more minutes of ‘sleep’.

6:45-7:10 am Throw on a sweatshirt, brush my teeth, wash my face. In the kitchen get Gage’s breakfast ready.  Pear juice with probiotic and vitamin D, apple slices, and throw together  some quick ‘bread’ with maple syrup (takes only 10 minutes in the oven and 4 ingredients! )

7:10 am Wake up Gage and get him to the table.  Prepare snacks and lunch for school.  Supervise getting dressed.

7:40 am Out the door for school.

8:12 am Back home.  Eat some of the syrup bread. Check emails, Facebook.  Have sinus headache so I take Sudafed and head back to bed.

8:25-9:45 am Sleep cuddled with Sammi, the girl is needy.

9:45 am Shower & get dressed

10:00 am Listen to 11/22/63 by Stephen King while I make coffee and clean the kitchen

10:15 am Have coffee and egg while I read Orphan 8 by Kim van Alkemade for book group tonight.  I seriously work better under pressure 🙂

10:40 am Laundry, order prescription.

10:50 Tried updating my blog quiz but WordPress has been so funky lately. Give up.  Make hair appointment because of this.

11:00 am Message a few of Jason’s friends for a 40th birthday idea.

11:10-11:30 am Phone call with a mom of Gage’s classmate to plan a playdate.  We end up talking about her upcoming Spring Break vacation.  She is taking her FOUR SONS, ages 5-12, to Arizona BY HERSELF.  Her husband will meet them later.  She’s a rockstar.

11:30 am More laundry – still with me?  Put some make-up and run my fingers through my hair.  Get stuff read for the post office.

12:00 pm Out the door

12:08 pm Post office.

12:15-12:45 pm Lunch at Chipotle as I finished the book for tonight.

12:50 pm Stop at Marc’s for kitty litter.

1:10 pm Home

1:15 pm Computer time. Check the news and listen to CNN. I’m so happy to be an Ohioan today since we gave Trump ZERO delegates yesterday.

1:30 pm Called to cancel a few weeks of Gage’s nature camp for the summer. I found out he was accepted into a private school yesterday and they want all new kids to attend a four week camp there.

1:40-1:55 pm Blog still glitchy 😦 Took extra time to get around it.

1:55-2:10 pm Facebook and clutter control. RSVPd to a birthday party for Gage’s friend, Arihant.  It’s FOUR hours for a 6-year-old birthday party at their house.  I know some brave mamas!

2:11 pm Out the door.

2:46 pm Home with Gage where we play dinosaurs, Hay Day on the iPad and watch a little Curious George.

3:30 pm Snack and more play.

3:50 pm Found these train stickers stuck to our table 😦

3:55 pm At Gage’s request, we finished learning about the state of California by making a Redwood forest.  And then he got crazy with the scraps of paper and glue and made a monster.

4:10 pm Got mail.

4:30 pm Gage is at Speech therapy and I read the discussion section at the end of Orphan 8. Totally makes the book better.  Answered a few texts and got into a political discussion on Facebook.  Sometimes I just can’t help myself!

5:15 pm Speech is over.

5:25 pm We’re home and start dinner.

5:35 pm Jason gets home a little early.  Feed the boys.

6:35 pm Leave for Bonnie’s house.

7:00-10:15 pm Bonnie from Redlady’s Reading Room graciously invited me to her book group. It was my first time and the ladies were lovely.  Everyone enjoyed the book and it led to some good discussion. I look forward to the next one.

10:45 pm Home. Check in with Jason.

11:00 pm Print the March Madness bracket and spend some time filling it out. Jason and I have been competing for 20 years! The winner gets to choose the next 5 theater movies and I’ve lost 3 years in a row 😦

11:45 pm Return a few emails.

12:10 pm Check in on Gage. get read for bed, cat cuddles.

1:00 am Sleep.

Check out Trish’s blog for more blogger days 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None last October and then passed it on to my mom.  When I saw that Great Lakes Theater would be performing it I knew that it would be a perfect mom and daughter night out.  And it was.We went downtown Cleveland to a great dinner with lots of  wine and then went to the play.  My mom, who can’t remember one book from the next she reads so many, couldn’t remember who the killer was until the end of the play, lol.

I almost always prefer musicals, but this was fun because of the size of the theater and the well-known story.  Do you like going to the theater? What was the last play you saw?

2001

Cast-John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Jeremy Piven, Molly Shannon, Bridget Moynahan, John Corbett, Eugene Levy

Directed by Peter Chelsom

In honor of Valentine’s Day this month I’m going to try and review as many of the romantic movies on my list as I can.

Jonathan and Sara both have significant others in their lives, but when they meet at Bloomingdales in New York they share a very serendipitous night together.  Sara, a big believer in fate, wants to leave a second meeting to chance.  Fast forward five years and they are both engaged to other people but wondering if they have already met and lost their soul mate.  A last minute hunt ensues.

Why I Love It- I’ve seen this movie many times over the years and love it every time.  The main reason being the very romantic notion of soulmates, that one person with whom everything makes sense.  It has not been my experience that everyone has one true soulmate, but I love the idea of it.  I think when I first saw the movie, I was only a few years married and it held this magical appeal to me. Now, almost 20 years since my first date with Jason, the appeal is still there but I felt a little more sad for Jonathan’s fiancé when I watched it this time around.

There is no getting over the cute factor of these two.  Kate was radiant and John, not usually my cup of tea, was appealing.  They spent only a few days filming together but had lots of chemistry when they were onscreen at the same time.  This may be the one time I haven’t found Jeremey Piven a little twerpy and I loved him as Jonathan’s best friend.  The whole cast was great.  John Corbett as a world renown New Age musician was pretty funny.

New York was a great backdrop and the movie made no apologies for the coincidences that brought them together and kept them apart.  It was fate and I was caught up in its charm.

Perfect for a romantic rental!! This clip sort of sums up the movie…