Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

Four Names People Call Me Other Than My Real Name..  1. Titi (only my niece as of right now!) 2. Amanda 3. Elena 4. Emily Four Jobs I've Had...  1. Cashier 2. Day care employee 3. State employee 4. Librarian Four Movies I've Watched More Than Once...  1. Rebel Without a Cause 2. Twister (every time I see it on) 3. Love Actually 4. Miracle Four Books I’d Recommend... 1. Divine Evil by Nora Roberts 2. Persuasion by Jane Austen 3. If On a Winters Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino 4. Pretty much anything on my Goodreads list Four Places I Have Lived... 1. Pemberton, NJ 2. Trenton, NJ 3. Hamilton, NJ 4. Glassboro, NJ (while in college) Four Places I Have Been... 1. Italy 2. Ireland 3. England 4. Seattle, WA  Four Places I’d Rather Be Right Now... 1. Italy 2. Ireland 3. England 4. Seattle, WA Four Things I Don’t Eat... 1. Pork (I love it but it doesn't love me) 2. Marshmallows or anything too mushy 3. Nutella (don't like the flavor) 4. Four of My Favor...

Leaping Hearts by Jessica Bird My rating: 3 of 5 stars I'm always reading romance novels, so for this challenge requirement I just went with the first one I read. This one could also probably go as a recommendation, a patron brought in these (the series) books thinking I would like them. I did like them. This is J.R. Ward writing as Jessica Bird. I'm used to reading J.R.'s paranormal series (Fallen Angels, BDB) so this was a bit of a change. In this book A.J. goes against her step-brother's wishes and purchases a very spirited horse.  She's sure she can tame the horse and ride him to a championship equestrian win. Forced from her house, she ends up at the house of Devlin, the one trainer she feels can help her reach her goal.  Of course Devilin wants nothing to do with A.J. or her horse. I like when characters are forced into each other company and end up falling in love. Besides ranch themed books, I haven't read anything having to do with horses that...

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman My rating: 5 of 5 stars I've read this book but I couldn't pass up to hearing Neil Gaiman read this delightful book. This is the story a father tells his children about why it took him so long to go and get milk for their cereal. It was a typical enough trip to the market to purchase the milk, but as he left to head home, things got difficult. There is a run in with aliens, time travel in a hot air balloon, and more interesting twists and turns (I don't want to spoil it!). I received a signed copy of the book at Book Expo America a few years ago and quickly read through the book.  At the book talk, Neil mentioned that he writes children's book just as much for the parents as for the kids, and that is clearly evident in this book.  He mentioned that when a child likes a book an adult is 'forced' to read it multiple times so it should also be enjoyable for them. I can honestly say I can't wait to keep reading/listen...

Write about something extraordinary in a flat voice. Mom and I were sitting in the living room watching TV. The phone rang. Mom paused the show and answered the phone. “Hello.” She listened. “Hi Alexa.” She listened. “That’s wonderful news. I’m so happy.” I could only guess but I was pretty sure Alexa was telling her that my sister-in-law was pregnant. Again.

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris My rating: 5 of 5 stars This may have been the most fun I've ever had reading an autobiography or memoir.  I loved the choose your own adventure books as a kid and I've loved NPH since I saw him on Doogie Hoswer. My original plan was to read this book through a few times choosing different paths and then I was going to read it through like a normal book (many reviews say this is possible).  I read through a few times and had some good laughs and then I was ready to do the regular reading. This proved to be a problem. I didn't make it far into the book before I got to the end of a section and instead of just turning the page, I wanted to skip head to see where each option would have taken me. This lead me to want to keep jumping around as you do and I ended up choosing three more adventures. The book is too munch fun to read in any other way! The book covers Neil's childhood and his i...

I originally reviewed the first book in John A. Heldt's series back in September 2013. Then last year John emailed me and asked if I would review the newest and last book in the series. I asked if the books were interconnected and when he said yes, I reveled one of my reading quirks, I need to read a series in order. John was kind enough to send me copies of all his books so I could review them. Be warned the following contains some spoilers. You can find my review of The Mine here .  In this book we meet Joel Smith, a geology student, ventures into a mine in 2000 and walks out in 1941. Joel travels to Seattle, WA and meets up with his grandmother (well the woman who would be his grandmother) and her friends. Joel falls in love, but he doesn't belong in 1941. The Journey by John A. Heldt My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Journey is not connected to The Mine other than it takes place in the Pacific Northwest and involves time travel.  In this novel, Michelle is trying to f...

Weekend Cooking is hosted by  Beth Fish Reads I'm a hoarder when it comes to pins on Pinterest . One board that has a ton of pins is my Recipes to Try board and I very rarely try some of them. In my collection is a pin that links back to a blog that followed a year of cooking in a crockpot for a year (back in 2008).   Since then the blogger, Stephanie O'Dea , has turned her 365 days of cooking in a slow cooker into a book. I haven't looked at the book but the list of her recipes from that year has caught my attention and I've been wanting to try some. It's Superbowl Sunday and there's the report of snow in our future. We're staying in but I wanted to cook something appropriate and the blog has a really easy chili recipe and honestly can you ever go wrong with chili.  So today I'm cooking Basic Chili CrockPot Recipe . As is typical in my house, we made modifications to the recipe. Here's what I used: --1 lb ground meat (I used 80/20) --...