Random Musings and Lots of Links

First off, have you read this piece by Alice Walker's daughter??
How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart- Rebecca Walker

If you haven't, I highly recommend it. I found it very interesting, especially seeing it so soon after finishing Family Secrets, which talks a lot about movements like the more extreme feminism and the idea that the nuclear family had become obsolete.
What a strong women to be able to overcome that kind of an upbringing and learn the value of motherhood!


Second, you may or may not know- I have clinical depression and anxiety.  It's something that I've learned to be really open about... and yet still don't necessarily talk about.
Anyway, I came across a couple of posts recently that I think are just dead on (no suicidal puns intended there) and wanted to share them:
Adventures in Depression (Hyperbole and a half)
Depression, Part 2 (Hyperbole and a half)

Now, just in case you're concerned, this is not a cry for help.  I'm actually amazing healthy right now. But I haven't always been.  And I probably won't always be.  And what she says is just so true... so real... so accurate.

Hmmm, so I'm realizing now that this could be kind of a depressing post...  so here's a couple of links to the pinterest boards where I post funny stuff... just to lighten the mood. ;)

Makes Me Smile

Queen of My Own Little Nerd-dom

Utah Authors Month!!

Sadly, I'm probably not going to be participating, but check out Maw Books for more info and keep your eye out for Utah blogger posts about our Utah authors!!

(Life has exploded at my house.... I'll post something soon about what's going on.)

PURPLE!!

Tomorrow is PURPLE DAY!! 

Where purple for Epilepsy awareness and visit my friends over at BOOKSCOOPS to see their awesome Purple Day giveaway and other fun stuff!!

(And I promise to actually, like, review books next week.... really.... maybe.... lol.  I've been powering through the entire Mrs. Pollifax series!)

We're Off to See the Bloggers...

The WONDERFUL bloggers of.... well, not Oz.

UTAH!

That's right, the Utah Book Blogger Bash is tonight!  Yea!!!

I'm hoping to see everybody there-- and actually mingle and talk to more people this time!! 

Also hoping to see LOTS of authors!  We have so many awesome authors here!

If you're in Utah, see you tonight, I hope!

If not-- are there lots of book bloggers in your area?  Do you do fun get togethers??  What's your "book community" like?!

Bringing Fairy Back

Doesn't that ROCK?!?

My cousin is bringing back fairy (that's not her in the pic, but it's from her blog.)  She makes these amazing gorgeous pieces, can you believe it?  Check it out at

Damsel In This Dress

(You can access her blog from their too!)

Let's face it, you're never too old to want to dress up, right?  And when Vanessa started talking about this year's Once Upon A Week, I knew I wanted to highlight this!  Because even a tomboy like me has a sneaky desire to be a fairy princess.  :)

Oooh, and she also has kick-butt hooded corsets-- very "sexy Red Riding Hood".

Which one would you pick?  I really want a pirate coat!

Purple Day!

Given everything going on right now, there's not a lot I can do with this, but I couldn't NOT support Cari!
Head over to Bookscoops to see what YOU can do to support Purple Day!

Blogger Interview-- Andrea from The Little Bookworm

It's interview day for Once Upon a Week!

A big welcome to Andrea from The Little Bookworm!!

First, introduce yourself and your blog, of course.
My name is Andrea and I am an academic librarian. I am married with one beautiful son who is going to be 3 in a month. Time files so fast. My blog is The Little Bookworm and I primairly read and review YA books although I have been know to review movies and more adult books on occasion.

Favorite Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale author. Gail Carson Levine's fairy tales are pretty awesome and are great for re-reads! My favorite fairy tale would be Rapunzel. Something about the hair maybe?

Do you like more contemporary books on fairy tales? Fairy tale retellings? Like them all or just some? I am big fan of the contemporary retellings. I love fractured fairy tales. I went through a phase where I read everyone of them I could get my hands on and I still enjoy them a lot.

Fairy tale character you think you're most like? Least like? I think I'd like Mulan the most. She is a very strong female character who doesn't wait, but goes off to war to save her father. My least favorite character would be Snow White for being so guillable.

And I'd really love to hear you take on the last few you asked me: ('Cause Andrea had some kickbutt questions!)
Stepmothers or wolves? Wolves, at least you know where you stand

Kiss the frog or throw him back? Kiss the frog. It never hurts to take a chance.

Wait for the prince or save yourself? Save yourself.

And, finally, your feelings on the whole "prince charming" idea. :D Ahahaha, I'm sorry but no one is that perfect. I guarantee after the wedding he was less Charming all the time.

I'm right there with you on that one! Thanks for stopping by so we can get to know you a little better!

Check out The Little Bookworm!

Fall Fesitval Recipe Exchange

Okay, yeah, the 12th was yesterday, but I love this idea.

Even though I don't cook. Really.

This great idea comes from the fabulous Amy of My Friend Amy.

Go check out all the other great recipes. I had to start a word doc to keep them all. :D Seriously, go. I gave you the link there. ^

Anyway.

When I do cook, I tend to make things up as I go. Which makes sharing the "recipe" a little tricky, but here goes.

Curried Squash

Ingredients:

butternut squash (or whatever squash. I like butternut)

fresh garlic (I used like 5-6 cloves. I like me my garlic)

You could also totally use onion.... I just don't always have any around

butter/margarine

ummm.... what else did I use?

Oh yeah--

Chicken broth (or bullion or veggie broth... whatever.)

Oh yeah, how much... um. I used like 1 1/2 - 2 cups for half a squash. It was very saucy... verging on soupy. Which is fine if you're going to pour in over rice.

curry powder-- to taste. I don't measure spices

Cumin-- just a dash or so...

salt and pepper (freshly ground pepper is my preference) again, to taste

French vanilla yogurt. Like... half a container or so... give or take...

(I warned you about my recipe-writing skills)

Okay, so you want to put the butter and chopped garlic (and/or onions) in a sauce pan of appropriate size to saute briefly. I hate to saute them too much because I feel like you lose some flavor.

Add squash (which you should have cut into chunks.... after peeling of course) and add most of your seasonings so they start really flavoring the squash.

Toss all that together for a bit (not long, mostly just to coat everything) before adding your sauce.

Here's what the sauce should be-- your broth, additional spices (I'm seriously heavy-handed about my spices) and the yogurt all mixed up well. I use a whisk.

Pour into sauce pan with the squash et al. Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes and then simmer for a while. How long you simmer will depend on a)how done you want your squash and b)how thick you want your sauce. The sauce doesn't thicken as much as I thought I would, so I ended up adding some flour to thicken it up. It was still pretty runny, but over rice that's perfect.

I actually ended up serving mine over the Parmesan Risotto I made the same night. (Which ended up quite thick and sticky, since I used a different kind of rice, but was excellent. Especially with the curry... yum.)

Clear as mud, right?

Dragon's Loyalty Award

The Dragon's Loyalty Award is an award for the loyal fan/commenter, whether the recipient is a fellow blogger or just a someone who follows and comments regularly.

Here are the rules:

* If you have a blog, post it on your blog with a link back to the site who gave it to you.

* Leave them a comment on their site, email, etc. to let them know.

* If you don't have a blog but have a website, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or other type account, post there with a link back.

* Pass this on to 3-10 loyal fans.

Thanks so much to CC Chronicles for this way cool award!! How awesome is that picture?

So I'm passing this on to:

Suey at It's All About Books

Lynn at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile

Angie at Angieville (Who has the most awesome header.)

and Melissa at One Librarian's Book Reviews

BBAW Day 2-- Interviews!

It's interview day! This has been so much fun! I was paired with Mary from Just One More Page.

We've had a great email conversation going on for days and days-- here are excerpts for your enjoyment!

So, you have to tell me how you got started... and how you picked a name for your blog. Do you review everything you read, or do you skip books you didn't like? What's been your favorite book this year? -- Britt

Oh, great questions! May I ask the same ones back to you, or would that be cheating? :-b

I started a blog called The Anything Blog back in May 2008 because I was reading others' blogs and thought it might be fun. The Anything Blog, which is about whatever caught my fancy ~ a herd of goats in downtown L.A., banned books, 9/11, The Hollywood Bowl, the new TV series which is now in its second (or is it third) season ~ True Blood, and so on, I haven't really kept up. But after a couple of months of writing that blog, I found that I was blogging a lot about books ~ reviews, commentaries, etc. ~ so I thought maybe I should have one blog for "anything" and another dedicated solely to books and reviews. That's when I started Just One More Page.

The day I started it ~ it was a lovely end of summer day ~ I was reading on the couch next to a window that overlooks a park. I kept glancing out the window and telling myself that I should go outside and take a walk since the weather was so gorgeous and not too hot, but I couldn't seem to put the book down. Instead I kept on reading, turning page after page, telling myself that I'd stop after just one more page and go out. Well, later (after having finished the book without having gone out for that walk), I created the blog, and Just One More Page...Or Two seemed the perfect name for it.

In the beginning, I considered writing reviews for every book I read, but like you I was reading a lot of books, and my job was very demanding at the time, requiring a lot of overtime. So I decided against it. Then I started being contacted by PR people or publishers or even authors to do reviews, and I also reached out to publishers for ARCs to review, such that reviewing began to seem more of a chore than a pleasure for me.

Upshot is, other than a couple of authors with whom I have developed a relationship (and whose novels I love), and the Early Review program on Library Thing, I decided not to accept free books in exchange for reviews in future. Unless the book sounds really really good and it's an author I really really like. Or, if it's unfamiliar, if it sounds really fascinating. Or... Okay, I'm not OCD so much as addicted.

I plan to eventually review all the ARCs I have received (I have 3 left), even the ones I don't care for a lot, but, once I've finished, I'm planning to review only books about which I have strong feelings, either positive or negative, because I usually have a lot of enthusiasm to write a review and can find a lot to say about such books.

My favorite book so far for 2009 is "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. Two and three in the lineup of favorites are "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman and "Cavalier of the Apocalypse" by Susanne Alleyn, although the non-fiction I'm reading now ~ "Annie's Ghosts" by Steve Luxenberg ~ may just edge out the other runners up and slip into second place.

Whew! That's probably a lot more info than you wanted. Feel free to edit and hopefully make me sound more intelligent. :) (No need, Mary, no need.)

Seriously, I would be interested in your answers to the questions you asked me, especially where your book blog name came from and what your top 3 books are so far for 2009. And what book you are particularly looking forward to reading. -- Mary


I read some blogger interviews today, so I got some new questions! :D
Do you run any memes or features? Is there a book you remember that really got you into reading? What is your review/rating system? Participating in any challenges? Where do you get most of your books-- buy, borrow, library,etc?

Ooh, I thought of one more question-- Do you ever find yourself finishing a book or series you aren't enjoying at all just because you've invested enough that you have to know what happens? -- Britt

Hmm, I better go read some blogger interviews myself. lol

No memes or features ~ yet. I've decided to change things up, so future blog will include some new stuff including memes and will omit some stuff that has been more or less regular. Not finished planning yet, so not going to say more about it.

I've been reading since I was 2 years old (or so...all I really know is that I can remember sitting on the floor of my grandma's kitchen, next to the roaster that was on a rolling cart, and the bottom shelf of the cart was filled with Little Golden Books and other children's books (remember, this is back in the time just after the Earth's crust cooled enough to walk on it, so my memory of specifics is vague), and pulling out book after book and "reading" them. The very first book that impressed me to the point I still remember it vividly was "The Lively Little Rabbit," which was a Little Golden Book. It was about, well, a rabbit, but the character that really got to me was the villain of the piece ~ a weasel. I used to get into bed by taking a running jump in order to avoid the weasel that I was afraid was hiding under it. To this day, I sometimes catch myself wondering if a little weasel paw will come out from beneath my bed to catch my ankle.

I'm not sure I'm organized enough to have a system. When I review books, I take into consideration the depth of the characterizations, if the plot is tight or all over the place, how skilled the storytelling, how polished the writing, how correct the punctuation and grammar (a sore point with me). That kind of thing. I also give points for sheer inventiveness and fascinating subject matter. When I review on my blog, I don't use a rating system. I only rate books on Library Thing, but it's purely subjective. (I've given excellent books a 4 star and mind candy 4.5 stars, just because I enjoyed it more.)

The only challenge I currently participate in is the 100-book Challenge on Library Thing, mostly to have a place to keep track of them. I'm up to 73 books, will be 75 in a day or two. I decided not to do any other challenges this year because I wanted to take it easy.

I borrow most of my books from the library and have done for many years now, at first because, as a single mom, I couldn't afford to buy them, and now mostly because I live in a tiny apartment and have room for only one small bookshelf plus I'm paying $75/month for a storage unit to keep the bulk of my library. Also, I am planning to move in a couple of years and don't want to have to shlepp a lot of additional books with me to wherever I settle. The number of boxes of books I already have would fill a small moving van. One other reason, which is perhaps the strangest of all, is because I tend not to read the books I buy, instead reading borrowed books "first" and "saving" the ones I own for when I don't have anything else to read. Which, the way I borrow books, will be never.

As to your last question: I used to finish every book and every series I started, whether I was enjoying them or not. Now, being older and much more aware of the comparable brevity of time left me, I no longer force myself to read stuff that doesn't give me extreme pleasure (unless I'm doing it for a promised review, of course). My feeling is, there are so many great books to read and only so much time left to read them, I don't want to waste a minute on anything that isn't wonderful. -- Mary

I have to say, I really enjoyed this. And I am so the same way about borrowing books. Library books have a DUE DATE so I HAVE to read them! The books I own are always here!! And I really need to adopt Mary's view on books that aren't wonderful. Too many books, too little time... :D

For more of our conversation, hop over to Mary's blog for her side of the interview!!

Happy BBAW

Happy BBAW!!

(That would be Book Blogger Appreciation Week.)

Today's blog theme is blogs you love that didn't win awards this year. To check out who DID win this year (awesome blogs) check out the BBAW Awards page.

So-- first off, awesome author blogs:
Brodi Ashton-- Brodi's not published YET, but I count her as an author. And her blog is hysterical. (AND I met her at our Utah Book Bloggers shindig.)
Deanna Raybourn-- Love her books, love her blog.
Lisa Shearin-- You know I love her books; have you checked out her blog? GREAT information on writing and the publishing industry.

Awesome book blogs:
Bookscoops-- I've said it before, I'll say it again, LOVE the ladies of Bookscoops! Check out their awesome Doublescoops-- they crack me up!
Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile-- As a mom, I LOVE this site. So many awesome kid books!!
I'm Booking It-- excellent reviews, wide variety, LOVE it!
Book Bird Dog-- great source for mysteries and international books!
Ink and Paper-- Features Belle's Library every week, along with lots of great reviews!
It's All About Books-- Suey makes me smile-- always always!
One Librarian's Book Reviews-- Awesome reviews, and she notes the books mrg factor (mature romantic garbage) which I always like to know!

I hate compiling these lists, because I'm sure I missed somebody. If I missed you-- SORRY!!! I didn't mean to, I promise. (It's lack of sleep, I tell you.)

Utah Book Bloggers Party!

Yup, that's what I did Saturday night. I hung out with book bloggers.







And we had a blast! (Well, right up until Mister was stung by a wasp on the playground.... but you know, other than that it was awesome.)




There were a whole bunch of us crazy bloggers there:


Natasha from Maw Books-- she's the organizer and instigator. :D


Cari from Bookscoops-- the only one I already knew in real life.


Lynn from Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile-- with her cute bibliophile, naturally.


Becky from One Literature Nut, Emily from Emily's Reading Room, and Angie from Angieville-- who I talked to a lot... probably too much... sorry, ladies, if I monopolized you!


Stacy from Stacy Whitman's Grimoire and Drew from Books, Lies and Alibis-- both of whom I talked to a little.


And Melissa from One Librarian's Book Reviews and Suey from It's All About Books-- who I didn't really get to talk to. Which is totally my own fault for not leaving the chair I plopped myself on!



Here I am with Natasha (I'm the one in the Tigger shirt). This was "quick, take the pic, my son just got stung and is screaming bloody murder!"






And there were authors there.



Not one, not two, but 6!


See, six. In the back, J. Scott Savage and James Dashner.
In the front, Brodi Ashton, Emily Wing Smith, Bree Despain, and Leeann Whiffen.

How cool is that? You're jealous, right? I knew you would be. :D

**Photos courtesy of Natasha. I didn't take my camera. Crazy me.

Pay It Forward

Thanks to Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile, we just got a great surprise in the mail!! THANKS!!!

Now, it's our turn to pass it on!

We'll mail prizes to the first three people who comment here! (Make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you!!)

You don't get to know what it will be... it's a surprise!!

Teen Books: A Meme

I got this from I'm Booking It and thought it was a fun list.



The following list of books teens love, books teens should read, and books adults who serve teens should know about was compiled IN ABSOLUTELY NO SCIENTIFIC MANNER and should be taken with a very large grain of salt.
Instructions:
Put an “X” next to the books you’ve read

Put a “+” next to the books you LOVE

Put a “#” next to the books you plan on reading

Tally your “X”s at the bottom

Share with your friends!



1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy / Douglas Adams #

2. Kit’s Wilderness / David Almond

3. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian / Sherman Alexie #

4. Speak / Laurie Halse Anderson #

5. Feed / M.T. Anderson

6. Flowers in the Attic / V.C. Andrews

7. 13 Reasons Why / Jay Asher #

8. Am I Blue? / Marion Dane Bauer (editor)

9. Audrey Wait! / Robin Benway

10. Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block

11. Tangerine / Edward Bloor

12. Forever / Judy Blume

13. What I Saw and How I Lied / Judy Blundell #

14. Tyrell / Coe Booth

15. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Ann Brashares #

16. A Great and Terrible Beauty / Libba Bray

17. The Princess Diaries / Meg Cabot X (sort of... started it but didn't like it. Loved the movie.)

18. The Stranger / Albert Camus

19. Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card #

20. Postcards from No Man’s Land / Aidan Chambers

21. Perks of Being a Wallflower / Stephen Chbosky X

22. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie X +

23. Gingerbread / Rachel Cohn

24. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist / Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

25. Artemis Fowl (series) / Eoin Colfer #

26. The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins #

27. The Midwife’s Apprentice / Karen Cushman X

28. The Truth About Forever / Sarah Dessen

29. Little Brother / Cory Doctorow

30. A Northern Light / Jennifer Donnelly

31. Tears of a Tiger / Sharon Draper

32. The House of the Scorpion / Nancy Farmer #

33. Breathing Underwater / Alex Flinn

34. Stardust / Neil Gaiman #

35. Annie on My Mind / Nancy Garden

36. What Happened to Cass McBride / Gail Giles #

37. Fat Kid Rules the World / K.L. Going

38. Lord of the Flies / William Golding #

39. Looking for Alaska / John Green

40. Bronx Masquerade / Nikki Grimes

41. Out of the Dust / Karen Hesse #

42. Hoot / Carl Hiaasen #

43. The Outsiders / S.E. Hinton X+

44. Crank / Ellen Hopkins

45. The First Part Last / Angela Johnson

46. Blood and Chocolate / Annette Curtis Klause

47. Arrow’s Flight / Mercedes Lackey

48. Hattie Big Sky / Kirby Larson X

49. To Kill a Mockingbird / Harper Lee X+

50. Boy Meets Boy / David Levithan

51. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart #

52. The Giver / Lois Lowry X+

53. Number the Stars / Lois Lowry X+

54. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie / David Lubar

55. Inexcusable / Chris Lynch

56. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things / Carolyn Mackler #

57. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey X

58. White Darkness / Geraldine McCaughrean

59. Sold / Patricia McCormick

60. Jellicoe Road / Melina Marchetta #

61. Wicked Lovely / Melissa Marr #

62. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer

63. Dairy Queen / Catherine Murdock #

64. Fallen Angels / Walter Dean Myers

65. Monster / Walter Dean Myers

66. Step From Heaven / An Na

67. Mama Day / Gloria Naylor

68. The Keys to the Kingdom (series) / Garth Nix

69. Sabriel / Garth Nix #

70. Airborn / Kenneth Oppel

71. Eragon / Christopher Paolini #

72. Hatchet / Gary Paulsen X

73. Life As We Knew It / Susan Beth Pfeffer

74. The Golden Compass / Phillip Pullman

75. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging / Louise Rennison

76. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan X

77. Always Running: La Vida Loca / Luis Rodriguez

78. How I Live Now / Meg Rosoff

79. Harry Potter (series) / J.K. Rowling X +

80. Holes / Louis Sachar X

81. Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger #

82. Push / Sapphire

83. Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi

84. Unwind / Neil Shusterman

85. Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah

86. Stargirl / Jerry Spinelli

87. Chanda’s Secrets / Allan Stratton

88. Tale of One Bad Rat / Brian Talbot

89. Rats Saw God / Rob Thomas

90. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkien X

91. Stuck in Neutral / Terry Trueman

92. Gossip Girl / Cecily Von Ziegesar

93. Uglies / Scott Westerfeld #

94. Every Time a Rainbow Dies / Rita Williams-Garcia

95. Pedro and Me / Judd Winick

96. Hard Love / Ellen Wittlinger

97. American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang

98. Elsewhere / Gabrielle Zevin #

99. I am the Messenger / Markus Zusak

100. The Book Thief / Markus Zusak #



15... that's really sad.

Though in my defense, I've never heard of a lot of them.

My Google Reader-- A Love/Hate Relationship

Confession-- I only started using my Google Reader right before Bloggiesta.

Sad, I know. I just hadn't really paid attention to it before. After all, the blogs I follow come up on my Blogger dashboard, so who needs it, right?

Turns out, I do. I use it all the time now.

But you know, I think it's making me a lazy reader.

It's too easy to just skim through everything. And comments seem like so much more work now!

Take yesterday, for example. I had around 22 new items. I skimmed a lot of them. Went through them all, category by category. (I love that you can categorize them!)

Did I click through to the blogs? Nope. Maybe on one.

And therein lies the problem. If I don't click through a) they don't know I'm reading it and b) I don't leave comments.

Shame on me.

As a blogger, I know that I like to look at stats and I love to have comments, and yet here I am, not giving any love to my fellow bloggers! Shame shame shame.

Just another case of technology making us lazy, I suppose.

How about you? Do you use your Google Reader? Are you on it right now? Did you click through? Go ahead, click through, I dare you. :D

Summer Reading Saturday-- Daddy Books

"Crocodaddy, Crocodaddy swim away fast. This day's swim could be your last!"

We LOVE Crocodaddy!!

And you can read an awesome interview with auther Kim Norman on Maw Books!

This one is really worth owning-- we keep renewing it! The rhythm of the text is wonderful and it's a really really cute story.

You can find more awesome daddy books at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile-- Father's Day 1 and Father's Day 2. Including I Love My Daddy, which we've been reading a lot too!

Happy Father's Day!!

Bloggiesta!

AWESOME IDEA! From Natasha, over at Maw Books, who is just a generally awesome person.

Check out her Bloggiesta post for more details, but here's the gist-- spend 48 hours between Friday and Sunday working on your blog(s).

I don't know if I'll manage THAT many hours. (Kids are so demanding sometimes. lol) But I'm going to do a LOT of work.

What's that mean for you, the reader? Well, hopefully it means a better looking blog!

Just note that things might look a little crazy while I'm working on things!

My to-do list includes-- writing up reviews that I haven't done yet, making a custom header, getting a new background, updating my Amazon widget, generally cleaning things up. PLUS, I'm sure I can find some stuff to do on my other 2 blogs!

I'll also probably count some reading time, because let's face it, the more I read the more I have to review, right?

SO, join the fun! Or just cheer on your favorite bloggers!!

Award :D

I got an award! Yea me! Yay me! (Yea is a weird word....)

From Jo at Ink and Paper

Anyway.



So the rules that go with this one....
1) Put the logo on your blog/post.
2) Nominate up to 9 blogs.
3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4) Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog.
5) Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

I'm just going to do one blog. I like the one for one idea. :D

I'm Booking It
Go check it out!!

Between sick kidlets and Virtual Book Tours coming up, I'm swamped, so talk amongst yourselves tomorrow, okay? :D

Bits of Fluff

You know, like the cotton floating around making people sneeze...

1. Wednesday Wars won the poll. Off to put it on hold. Thanks for voting. :D
2. Cool Giveaway on One Librarian's Book Reviews
3. Another cool Giveaway at Books Love Jessica Marie
4. The Disney Channel has switched to summer programming... Upside? Phineas and Ferb is actually on when my kids are awake, in addition to later at night. Downside? Playhouse Disney is only about 5 shows long and that does NOT include Charlie and Lola, Little Einsteins, or The Wiggles. Blast it all.
5. Boo has thrown just about every piece of clothing she owns on the floor... sigh.
6. Went to the zoo yesterday. The Madagascar exhibit was not quite as cool as I wanted it to be. Boo's favorite animal died-- she started sobbing in the reptile house. At least no one got sunburned.
7. Mister won't stay out of the kitchen. Toddlers emptying the dishwasher are not actually helpful.
8. 24 hours without internet equals 56 unread emails. Could be worse.
9. I love PG Wodehouse.
10. No Wednesday Morsel today... Maybe tomorrow.

That's all I got.

I need a nap.

Why Do You Blog?

This blogging survey is from a high school English teacher doing her own end-of-school research project! If you've got a blog and would like to participate, just copy the questions and leave her a link! I thought it was kinda fun to think about why I spend so much time doing this every week.

1. How long have you been blogging? About 8 months total

2. Why did you start blogging? Different reasons for different blogs... this one? Because 1) Bookscoops and 2) I was tired of forgetting what I wanted to tell friends about the books I read.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging? Mostly it's just fun. And I can get complaints about a book off my chest without irritating my husband too much. ;)

4. How many times a week do you post an entry? On this one, generally at least 6. Arri and Keish gets 3 or so a week. My project blog is sadly neglected.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis? Um, lots! I follow a good 65.

6. Do you comment on other people’s blogs? I am really trying to be better about this. A lot of times I don't, though.

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? If so, are you satisfied with your numbers? Google Analytics and feedburner are my friends. Is anyone ever satisfied? You can never have numbers too high.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote? No, not really.

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog? I hope so.

10. Do you blog under your real name? Sort of. You can easily find my first name, but I don't broadcast it. Arri and Keish is a fictional blog, though. My project blog is linked to my Stampin' Up! site, so it has a little more personal info.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about? Yes. And I'm going to leave it at that.

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog? Well this is my book blog, obviously. My others are 1) fictional and 2) stamping/scrapbooking.

13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why? I have three. Different interests. I started with Pickled Penguin Ink. to showcase projects in my Stampin' Up! business. It's been pretty neglected, though, and I need to clean it up and get it going. This blog I LOVE-- keeps me reading and thinking. Arri and Keish we started originally on Windows Live as a way for family, friends and anyone else to read our writing. Hopefully the easily to deal with blogger site will attract more visitors. We love our characters and their world and wanted to share it.