Archive for » October, 2009 «

Oct

But lately I’ve been reading.

A lot.

I shared what I read the first weekend I had my kindle. Well, I haven’t stopped. Want to hear the cool part, I’ve only paid for one book (and I haven’t even read that one yet). I know, you’re laughing and thinking how cheap I am, right? That’s not it. I justified buying the Kindle because there are so many books available for free. I’ll buy books eventually but I kind of promised myself that I’d read enough books that I acquired for free to “pay” for my Kindle. And, I’m doing that.

I have received some books from someone but I still didn’t pay for them. A lot are free books — either the author is offering them for free (pretty much to get you hooked on the series or whatever) or they were written so long ago that the copyright isn’t valid anymore so it’s available for free (like books by Agatha Christie, Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen). There are so many available and a lot of them great books that I’m sticking to my deal with myself for a little bit.

There are a couple books I’ve looked at that I want to buy. And I will. But right now I have 35 books waiting to be read (OK, I just downloaded some more so now I have 37). In addition to the four books I read the first weekend I had my Kindle I’ve read at least six since (I’ve lost count ).

So…for some non-book talk. I have some work to do this weekend but I really just want to stay home. I’m going to my stamp club tomorrow then home to read/relax/clean/work. I’m excited. I’ve been a little sick so I want a few days at home (heck, even if part of those days are spent with my laptop working it’s still at home).

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Oct

Lanel

So, my friend Dy over at Two Scoops shared her map and it was fun so I decided to share mine. Some are placed I’ve driven through on my way to somewhere else but I was in the state long enough that I feel like I know it well enough to say I’ve been there. I’m sure there are others that I’ve been in an airport once or twice but I’m not counting those. I also might have gone through other while driving but I don’t remember so I’m not counting them.

visited 20 states (40%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

There are more I’d like to visit…my east coast is looking pretty bland…I think I need to do more east coast traveling. And poor North Dakota is looking pretty sad up there by itself.

Category: My Random Life One Comment

Oct

What are you reading?

Lanel

So, I mentioned last week that I bought myself a Kindle. Other than briefly mentioning it, though I didn’t say much about it. Well, this weekend I read. Man, did I read. From Friday night to Sunday night I read 3 1/2 books. I finished the 4th Monday night.

I LOVE to read. Unfortunately, I’m also cheap and lazy so I hate going to the store and buying books (because they’re expensive PLUS then what do you do with them after you read them). But, even more I don’t like going to the library — it’s a hassle. So, I bought the Kindle and I read this weekend.

First, let me review the Kindle this thing ROCKS! I was a little worried about how I’d like seeing the pages on a screen vs. on a page. I also worried about how comfortable it would be hold it and “turn” pages. Plus, I have a tendency to enjoy reading in bed laying down so I wondered how that would work. You know what, this makes all of those even easier. Seriously. I can read one handed, I can eat while I’m reading, I can read laying down even more comfortably. It ROCKS.

When I was buying the Kindle I was going to order a cover at the same time but decided to wait. There were so many options with different colors, fabrics, styles, etc. that I was overwhelmed. Plus, honestly, I hadn’t really touched the Kindle yet so I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I’m glad I waited. The cover I originally picked out is not the one I think I’m going to get. I definitely want one to make it easier (safer) to carry the Kindle in my purse but I’m still trying to decide which design I want based on how I hold/use it.

So, on to my title.: what are you reading? Well, here’s what I read this weekend with some thoughts.

The Noticer by Andy Andrews I read this as part of my Book Reader Blogger for Thomas Nelson and wrote up a review here. In short, the book was OK.

sTORI Telling by Tori Stelling I heard good things about the book and it delivered. The book is Tori Spelling’s biography. It’s interesting. I’ve always like her as an actres and after reading the book I have respect for her as a person. It’s worth reading.

Stories from Candyland by Candy Spelling After reading Tori’s biography the natural next move would be to read her mom’s biography, right? WRONG. OMG, I said it best here: “Not a good book, not a nice person, not worth your time to even bother. I knew Candy’s review (my friend Candy) and still thought she HAD to be wrong. Nope, Candy says it best. This woman doesn’t even try to cover up the fact that she is a materialistic shallow person. And, her writing is atrocious. After reading the book I’m convinced she paid them to publish it for her, and I’m sure she paid them a lot. Too bad she didn’t include a payment editing.”

I Heart Bloomberg (86 Bloomberg Place Series #1) by Melody Carlson this book was good, it was a free Kindle book and worth it. I’m not quite ready to buy Book 2 in the series because it wasn’t that good. No, I’m not that cheap but I just didn’t like it enough to buy book 2 yet. I might some day. I will read something else by this author but am not pushing buttons in a mad rush to buy book 2. So, if you have a Kindle it’s worth getting this one but don’t expect awards from the book.

And, now a peak at my reading list. (There are currently 25 items on my reading list, this is just a few to give you an idea on where my reading trend is going.)

Mommywood by Tori Spelling I’m reading this tonight because it’s short and I’ll probably be able to finish it tonight.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Little Women by Louis May Alcott

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Now, I will tell you the one negative (OK, two) things about the Kindle. 1. I feel like I have a to-do list and I don’t like to-do lists. There are 25 (oops, I just synced so there are actually 27) items on my Kindle to be read (I delete them when I’m done) so I feel like I have things to do. It’s OK, just my one complaint. Oh, wait I mentioned that there were two… 2. I don’t have time to watch TV because I’m too busy reading.

Oct

Ten Random Things for a Friday

Lanel

Yes, I know, I’ve been MIA for a while. I’ve been busy and my focus has been elsewhere. Sorry. All’s good, though.

So, since I just noticed that my last post was about my 5k, I guess I should tell you…I finished! I ran a portion (small by many people’s standards) and finished right at my goal finish time.
Wednesday night the annoyances of my upstairs neighbor came to a head, I snapped, he got pissed, I was wrong, I had to apologize. I don’t hate my upstairs neighbor but sometimes he listens to his music or TV too loud. He and I have had a number of discussions about it. Lately it’s been loud again. Wednesday night my sister was over with Rider, she and I were trying to talk but I could barely hear her. Rider was complaining about the noise and things on my entertainment center started rattling. I got pissed and knocked (OK banged) on the floor. He started stomping (the music didn’t go down) and I got pissed. Then I noticed he was at my front door and not happy. Ends up, he didn’t have the music on at all. He and I talked for quite a bit, I went up and spoke with his wife as well. I apologized it ended fine. Except…
I have ANOTHER noisy neighbor now.
Tomorrow I’m going to a soccer game. I get to pretend to be a soccer mom for one morning. LOL Actually, we have some friends that live here and they don’t have family here so I try to go to their kids’ games when I can so they have “family” there besides mom & dad. The daughter’s last game (that I can go to) is tomorrow morning and since mom is coaching and dad is coaching her brother’s game they don’t have any pictures or videos of her playing. So, I get to go be the camera soccer mom for a morning. It’s fun to watch the kids play and I think they like me showing up.
I just moved my e-mail reading from Outlook to Gmail. I used to use Thunderbird but it didn’t sync with my Blackberry and it was annoying so I moved to Outlook. However, there’s a reason I wasn’t using Outlook…I don’t like it. I finally had enough of it and figured out (almost) how to use Gmail instead. It’s actually nice because I can get my e-mail anywhere I can get on the web.
We completely skipped fall this year. Well, fall temperatures at least. We went from warm and sunny to cold and cold and icy overnight. Literally. It was about 80 one day and 50 the next. I’m not joking. This week we’ve barely been in the 40s. I like the cold but I just don’t feel prepared for winter yet.
My niece is in girl scouts. She just started and it’s super cool. But, with girl scouts comes fundraisers. Guess who’s buying candy. LOL Of course, I had to buy some from the soccer girl too so I’m going to have more candy than I need sitting around. Maybe I’ll give some as gifts.
One cool thing about winter is that I get to bust out my scarfs and gloves again. I LOVE my scarfs and gloves and even made sure my hair was cut so I can wear hats this year without looking funny (as in I didn’t cut it short like I was tempted to do).
I bought myself a special treat this week. I’ve been eyeing it since they first came out and have been wanting one since I first heard of them. The price was a turn-off though, but I got a gift certificate from someone and a rebate that I wasn’t expecting/counting on PLUS the price dropped so the time was right. Yep, today my brand new Kindle arrives. I’m so stinking excited that I can’t even breathe. I already have books sitting in my queu to download to it as soon as it gets here. I’ve been tracking it since it left the warehouse. It’s in town, right now, but not at my house yet. (And, yes, I’ll probably leave work as soon as it arrives to go get it.)
The heater just turned off. I really don’t like baseboard/wall heaters. They suck. Anyone who tells you they are efficient is wrong. Well, except that you can just heat one room if you want/need to. But, still they suck.