More books I have read.........

I have read these three books over the past couple of weeks.  All were really good and I would recommend them.  I have ordered a couple more by Jennifer Ryan from the library, so will show you those when they arrive.  All the books involve some aspect of World War II.  It was a tie between the Jennifer Ryan books as to which one I enjoyed the most.  Both of the Jennifer Ryan books involved actual things that happened during the war.

I must say Jennifer Ryan is my new favourite author at the moment.

Books I have read

Here are some of the books I have read in the past month.  I have not reviewed any of them though.

The Paris Showroom: Set in World War II based on true facts, and very interesting.

The True Love Bookshop: Perfect "chick-lit" great quick read.

The Beach Quilt: Teenage Pregnancy and how it affects all the people around her.  Well worth the read.

The Cornish Midwife: Perfect summer read.

The Oysterville Sewing Circle: Set of the west coast of the States.  Shows how resilient a woman can be when challenged.  Good read.

I got this one from the auction site for just under $4.  Again it was a feel good book.  It does feature a bit of religion in it, but it's not overwhelming.  Easy book to read.

I have just started this one by Jennifer Ryan.  This book includes recipes from World War II so very interesting.  I borrowed this book from the library.

What are you reading at the moment?

What happened on Wednesday..............

I have come to the conclusion it's one of "those" weeks, this week.  I got a call on Tuesday from the dentist, asking me if I wanted to change my cleaning appointment to 8am on Wednesday morning.  Said that was fine and off I went there on Wednesday morning.

The hygienist was someone I hadn't dealt with before.  Although quite nice; she was also very pushy.  As I think back to what she said about my mouth and teeth, I personally should walk into a lake and never come back out....LOL  I mean if she did "praise" anything it was followed by a negative comment about my mouth.

She did however suggest I should use a water flosser, as I refuse point blank to floss my teeth with regular floss as it feels like nails on a chalk board to me.  I will take her up on that idea, to try it out.  All in all that visit cost $140, and all she did was clean my teeth.  I do not have them polished, don't like that.  She did floss my teeth, she scraped them and poked about in my mouth.  I did not see the dentist, as it meant hanging around for another 15 minutes, as he didn't start until 9am.  So all in all a waste of time and money!!

I am back to ordering my fruit and veg bags, for $20 a month.  Here is what I got for $20.  There is only one thing we won't use and that is the celery, but I have my good friend coming up today and will give it to her.

I know I have mentioned this before but I do love my Tupperware FridgeSmart containers.  They work so good.  Here is everything put away ready to go into the fridge.

Where I pick the veggie bag up is at the north end of the city close to the mall, so had a look around there.  Plus I got a coupon in the mail for 6 free bagels from Great Canadian Bagel, as it's my birthday in March.  I have never got this before, and don't remember signing up for it?  If you click on the link and look for the birthday icon, you can sign up there.  So I picked up two sesame seed, two cheddar cheese and two everything bagels.  I also treated myself to a sesame seed bagel with veggie cream cheese and a coffee for my lunch, which cost $7.

I was also bad and picked up three books for $10 at Indigo in the mall.

I rarely go to the mall, so enjoyed my walk around it.

Reading...........

I have been having a clean out of books and have discovered numerous fiction books laying around.  When I say numerous probably well over 30 that I have purchased but haven't read yet.  So I have decided no more books are coming into the house until I have read the ones I have.  There is one exception though and that is the books that my mother is reading in her book club.  I will borrow those from the library.  I have also decided, if I can't "get into" a book after a few chapters, then I am not going to waste my time trying to read it.

I have three areas/bookcases where I keep books in the house.  In the living room I have this cabinet.  All are fiction novels in this area.

In the basement there is this built in unit.  Now the only fiction area is the third shelf down on the right hand side.  The bottom shelf on the left hand side is all the kids books.  I need to clean out that shelf, but waiting another few months until Evan turns 3 and then I'll get rid of the baby books.

This bookshelf is in the spare bedroom and holds magazine and cooking and crafting books.

I have donated a lot of books and magazines over the past few months.  Still have more to purge.

Do you own a lot of books?

I book I am reading at the moment is "The Last Time I Saw Paris," by Lynn Sheene.  I did post another review here on my book review blog.

"There are Dinosaurs in My House, " by Helen Gordon

There are Dinosaurs in My House, by Helen Gordon

 "There are dinosaurs here, there, everywhere!

It isn’t every day that you find dinosaurs hiding all over your house.

Can you find them and see what they are doing?

Come and join us on an adventure and see what you discover.

With dinosaurs, familiar objects, recognisable environments and simple rhymes, this picture book is perfect for toddlers and dinosaur-obsessed little ones."

My mother sent over this book for the kids.  Her neighbour's daughter wrote this book and she thought the younger grand kids would love it. This is Helen's first book.  Liam loves it and has read it with me a couple of times.  It can be purchased at a number of places and is perfect for the under 5's.

I love reading books, and four of the seven grandchildren love reading books also.  The older three are into Harry Potter and Goosebumps books, and really all chapter books.  The two younger girls are not big readers.  Liam LOVES books and will read a book anytime, anywhere.....and Evan; well at 2 months old, his priority is being fed in a timely manner, not reading!!!

Books.......

As many of you know I am a big reader.  I have always loved reading and now we have moved close (ten minute drive, if that) to a lovely new library I am borrowing books at an alarming rate 😁  I post most of what I read on my book review blog here.  However some I don't review but I love regardless.

One of my favourite series are Laura Childs, "Tea Shop Mysteries."  I have read all of those books, but have only reviewed the newest release Broken Bone China. Infact during the months of January and February I re-read all of the series, just never posted a review on them.

I have read a number of the "Seaside Knitter's Mysteries," by Sally Goldenbaum, and Maggie Sefton's "Knitting Mysteries."  I enjoy both series and want to re-read them again.

One thing I did when signing up at the library was to sign up for the libraries newsletters that come out weekly via email on different genre's of books.  They have been a blessing and I picked up two books on Friday that were suggestions from these newsletters.

Both look really interesting and I thought I would share them with you despite the fact I haven't read them yet.

Bleaker House, by Nell Stevens

"How far would you travel to become a writer?
8000 miles from home
1085 calories a day
3 months to write the novel that would make her name

At least that was the plan. But when Nell Stevens travelled to Bleaker Island in the Falklands (official population: two) she didn’t count on the isolation getting to her…

Hilarious and heartbreaking, this is a book about loneliness and creativity. It is about discovering who you are when there’s no one else around. And it’s about what to do when a plan doesn’t work: ultimately Nell may have failed to write a novel, but she succeeded in becoming a writer."

"Transcription," by Kate Atkinson

"In 1940, eighteen-year-old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever.

Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence."

I mentioned that I have joined a local book club and we meet once a month at the library.  For May's meeting we had to put forward books we wanted to nominate for the upcoming years titles.  Thought you might be interested in what I put forward.  I have read and reviewed all these:

Educated by Tara Westover, review here.

The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg, review here.

and The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson, review here.

Have you read any books recently that you thought were really good?

You know when you want to share, but you can't?

We popped out on Sunday afternoon to get out of the house.  I wanted to check a store for something, but I stumbled on a lot of other things.......Christmas gifts.  All good deals and well worth buying.  However due to certain members of the family who read this I cannot tell you what store or where I got the things.  Suffice to say I was very happy with my purchases.

I can tell you about one store I went into and show you what I bought.  We popped into Pier 1 Imports.  I rarely buy anything in there, unless it's on sale as I think the place tends to be over priced on most things.  However we saw this and I knew we had to have it:

It's a dried "flower/twig" decoration that is made in the Philippines.  Here is a similar one.  I have it in front of the fire.  Obviously I will have to move it to the side when we have the fire on, but it's the perfect size.  There was a taller version and another the same height in a different colour.

Those ribs look good on the tv don't they?  We were watching the Food Network when I took the photo.  I know we need a bigger tv, but it's not in the budget at the moment, maybe for Christmas.

I have been busy reading with it being so hot and have read the following two books:

Both are great books, I just haven't had a chance to write up a review.

Our Book Club reading list until September 2016

At our last meeting we chose the books for the upcoming year (and more).  So I thought I'd share with you our choices in case you want to read along.  If you click on the title of the book, it will take you to Amazon where you can read about it.

July: The Vagrants by Yiyun Lin - I have read and reviewed this book already here.

August: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe - I have read and reviewed this book here.

September: The Chaperone by Laura Moriaty

October : Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

November: Ru by Kim Thuy

December: Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

January: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (looking forward to this one)

February: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

March: The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay

April: Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Merhan - I have read and reviewed this book here.

May: The Children Act by Ian McEwan

June: Annabel by Kathleen Winter

July: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

August: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

September: Memories of a Victorian Midwife by Charlotte Fuhrer

As you can see there is a wide variety of books and subjects that we are going to read.  This is one reason I like the book club, it takes me out of my comfort zone and I get to experience new authors and new subjects that I would not normally read.

If anyone has read any of the books on the list, please let me know what you thought?

Hot and Humid...........

so of course I am hibernating.  The older I get the worse I feel in this weather.  My poor head has been pounding so fingers crossed it will break and rain soon just to clear the air.

I picked up a parcel from the Post Office on Tuesday.  I had ordered some books from Book Outlet  They had emailed me a $10 off code when you spend $30 so I thought I'd take advantage of it.  I ended up getting these books for a tiny bit over $30 and that included tax and shipping.  It is cheaper to buy a book than a magazine and I know I can get $1.50 at the used book store for them when I have done reading them.  Have you read any of these books?  I have started on Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo.  I love reading books that involve knitting despite the fact I can't knit for toffee.

 This is the two girls' toy basket.  Our little Princess also knows where to go to get books on the shelf as she loves to be read too.  Our little Munchkin isn't really into it yet. I have to read more to her as she does have a lot of books at home.

Do you like the colour of our hardwood floor?  Gosh it is a pain to keep clean and marks so easily.  I make everyone take off their shoes when they come in the house; which actually is something that is typically done anyway in Canada.  However I can't afford to have folk walk in the house with dirty shoes that may scratch the floor.  I brush and dry swiffer it nearly everyday.  The marble border to the left of the border is part of the fireplace.

Oh, and finally we got our first gas bill for the house.  It was around $85 and that included $25 new account admin fee, that we had no choice but the pay.  We only use the gas to heat the water during the summer.  As we don't have a bill to compare it with, is that pretty normal usage or is yours higher or lower?  Remember without the fee it would have only been $60.

Canada's Most Iconic Book Cover............

After weeks of voting, our search for Canada's most iconic book cover is over! You've chosen Robert Munsch's Love You Forever as the winner, edging out Anne of Green Gables in a very close vote. Love You Forever claimed the title of Canada's Most Iconic Book Cover with 52 per cent of the final vote. 

For more of the CBC interview click here.

We have this book and it always brings tears to my eyes.  It's a keeper...........

And the first clue was?

I had a few things planned on Friday so had to get organized and get going first thing.  So I printed and sorted out what coupons I needed then got in the car to drive where I was going.

As I was driving along the car was making a funny sound as though one of the windows were open.  So I checked all windows and then pulled over in case it was the truck.........I know I have a sensor that indicates if the truck is open.  Set off again, there was a clatter up and it was as though a stone was flying around the wheel hub area.  All of a sudden there was a noise and the next thing I know the sensor for low pressure in my tire came on.  I pulled over and sure enough I had a flat tire.  I have NEVER EVER changed a tire in my life......

After calling road side assistance and being told that it doesn't cover changing a flat tire and being told that the charge was $50 I called our local towing company and asked them to come out.  I decided to at least take the spare tire out of the car in preparation for them coming.  I was actually proud of myself actually doing that. 

I then decided to get out the manual to see if there were instructions on how to change a tire and was surprised to find there were instructions:

So I stood by the car reading the manual and a young girl pulled up and asked me if I needed help.  I asked her what was her first clue that I had no idea what I was doing and she pointed to the manual!!!  I told her I about the tow truck and she left.  Not long after a gentleman stopped and he told me to cancel the tow truck and save myself some money and he would change the tire.  So I cancelled the tow truck and he changed my tire and wouldn't take any money or even let me buy him a Tim Hortons coffee.  What a lovely man he was.

I then drove to the Ford garage in Alliston and they looked at it and had to order me a tire.  To cut a long story short the tire arrived Friday afternoon and I got the new tire installed.  I have insurance on my tires.........turns out I bought it when I bought the car?  It covers replacement tires, so it cost me nothing.

I honestly think after watching the guy put my spare tire on, I think I would be able to do it along with reading the instructions on the manual.

Now the bummer in all of this was I was only allowed to drive 80 kmph/50 mph when I had the spare tire on.  Do you know very few people drive that slow, including me.  

I called into a new to me store in Alliston called A Novel Idea I am going to take some books there and get a store credit for baby books for our home library.

There are some good deals on at Sobey's this week.  Buy Lou's  Sliced Pork Loin (same as peameal bacon) you get a free package of breakfast sausage and a free package of hash browns.  The pork loin is $5.99.  The Europes Best fruit is on sale for $2.99, I had $1 off coupons so got five packages.  Also the Natrel Fine Filtered Milk is $3.97 is on sale for the 4 litre bag.

Many things annoy me, but paying Bank fees really tick me off.

We are with the TD Bank and have been ever since we came to Canada.  I keep threatening to move all our stuff, but basically I am just too damn lazy to do it and can't be bothered with all the hassle.

One thing though that drives me crazy are the bloody bank fees.  It's around $15 a month if you go over a set amount of transactions which I always do.  So one way of getting around that is that you have to have a minimum balance of $3,500 in your chequing account to defer those fees.    Although it annoys the heck out of me, I know I cannot make over $15 in interest a month in a savings account with that money, so moved money into our chequing account so I don't pay the service charges.

$3,500 is an odd number to me, so I have $4,000 in there and just "forget" about it.  When I balance my cheque book it's minus the $4,000 as it doesn't exist in my cheque book.  I also make sure I have nothing less than $100 in our chequing account.  If it falls down to $100 in my mind we have no money.

We have only ever been overdrawn once and it was a cheque we had made out to the Government for our citizenship application, and back in the day, when the banks weren't open all hours I figured it wouldn't be processed for an extra day, but it was.  Luckily we had money in our savings account and they moved the money over from there for us but they charged us a fee for doing it.

By "forgetting/pretending" that $4,000 doesn't exist and mentally telling myself that we CANNOT go down below that $100 balance in the chequing account we should never ever have service charges.

Do you have a trick that you use so you don't have service charges?

I have discovered some new to me authors and when I order the books from the library you won't be hearing nothing from me as I'll have my nose in a book.

I have read four of Maggie Sefton's books so far and they are good.  Here is a link to her site.  I have been reading the Kelly Flynn series, which is set around a knitting store.  The books feature both knitting patterns and recipes.

I can't wait to order books by the author Laura Childs.  Here is a link to her site.  I'll be honest I am not sure which series to start with. The Tea Shop Mysteries seem to be calling my name?  Plus they are set in Charleston, South Carolina which is a place I love.

Monica Ferris books also look like my type of book.  Check out her site here.

Last but not least Earlene Fowler books have a quilting theme about them.  Here is a link to her site.

Been busy reading!!!

Yep, just wasted a couple days of my life reading the "Fifty Shades of Grey," Trilogy.  I reviewed it here on my Book Review blog.  I hear they have sold the film rights (not sure if that's the right term) for the books.  I would love to know how on earth they will make that movie without it being a full blown "porn," movie?   Not that I will be seeing it as I don't go to the movies.

Anyhow, it has been a good time to catch up on reading as it has been too hot and humid for me.  Monday I never left the house, and although I did venture into town yesterday it was just a quick couple of stops and straight back home.

Now today I am going out and about, as I am meeting Jane again in Orillia.  I'll remember to take my camera and take photos.  Orillia is around half way for both Jane and I.  So check back in tomorrow for a full account of how we got on!!!

My apologies for not visiting blogs these past couple of days, will catch up later in the week,

Gill

Bathroom habits........and other "stuff!"

I know bit of a strange thing to talk about, but something is puzzling me and has been for quite some time now.

Do you have magazines and books in your bathrooms?  The reason I ask this is, when I go to use the toilet the last thing I think of doing is reading a book or a magazine.  If I want to read a book, I prefer a more comfy seat.  Also when I go to the toilet I am in and out in as short a possible time.  Why do some people like to hang about in the bathroom for half an hour at a time?

The guys I worked with used to take the newspapers into the bathroom and you wouldn't see them for half an hour.  What on earth were they doing for half an hour????    Is this a man thing only?

I got a number of books in the mail on Thursday from a new to me online store, called Christianbookdotcom  It's an American site, but for us Canadians they ship out of Canada too, the warehouse is around an hour from where I live.  Great service, super prices and a good variety.

I paid $40 USD for all those books and the Waltons dvd, that includes $7.50 for shipping and 5% GST.  They were mainly 99 cents each, including the dvd.  I did pay $9.99 for the Kim Vogel Sawyer, "Sommerfield Trilogy" which of course is for three books!!

I will of course donate the books to the local library when I have read them, like always.

Did you remember to put your money in you Daily Savings Pot today?  We are nearly at the end of January so don't give up now!!

Today's Money Saving Tip:

If you are part of a book club, take at look at these tips on this link  These tips are also handy for any reader....

I do this every year: Ask for book tokens or bookshop gift cards as birthday and Christmas presents

Look what I made on Sunday and other stuff..........

Quite proud of what I did and it cost me less than $7 to make.

I started out with a bucket, bought some foil wrapping paper, $1 from the dollar store, and wrapped the bucket in that. Added some stones to the bucket to weigh it down. Cut a circle of Styrofoam we had in the house, and inserted that in the top of the bucket. Cut some greenery from the garden, stuck that in the bucket, added the candy canes, $1 each from the dollar store (they're plastic and reusable). Added a couple of branches and hung the red Christmas balls from them, again $1 for all six. Stuck a big bow on the front of the bucket, another $1.

Wrapped an old brick, and empty Kleenex box, and the box the red ball decorations came in to make them look like presents. The little bows on top of the presents, were on the candy canes. I did weigh down the empty boxes. This way if someone wants to "take" the presents they can!! Then I set it all up on the deck by the front door. Its all waterproof, so should stand up to nasty weather.

Talking of the weather, I was talking to the vet's assistant on Monday and she was telling me I could go and pick up the crazy pink pills, as the latest set of pills are useless. They look like red jelly beans and are as effective as red jelly beans!! Anyhow, we were having a "discussion," which translates as me arguing with her over the amount of pills they were giving me, approx. 40 days??? Anyhow, she says that by then we'll see how Molly is "when the snow flies" and its colder.

Now I had never heard of that expression, "when the snow flies." I suppose its better than saying if ****ing well snowing again.........right? By the way you can add whatever word takes your fancy where I have inserted the **** It turns out that "when the snow flies," it's a time between Fall and Winter, when the snow just starts to fall. Not sure if that is just a local expression, or a Canadian/American expression. I know I have never heard that expression in Britain.

I must say though the weather continues to be glorious at the moment, and I think my mail lady was saying we're in for another good week? As I said to her, I wouldn't care if it didn't snow at all this year or next!!!

I have a "sitemeter" on this blog and find the whole thing fascinating. People search for the craziest things, but I am a numbers person, I just love looking at the numbers, and all the other stats on there. I love the graphs and the pie charts. I find it interesting that Saturday is my quietest day for visitors on my blog. Thursday's are generally the busiest, that's because I do a regular post and a Skywatch post as well. I find those photo meme's attract a lot of people. Mind you those people don't write as much on those type of posts, as people do on a regular post I find. I could do a whole post on the ins and outs of the stats from my blog but don't want to bore you!!

Finally DEAL ALERT for the Canadian's and American's!!! From now until December 31st, 2010, if you order $39 or more worth of books from Bookcloseouts.com you get free shipping. I have ordered from these guys a few times and am very, very happy with the service etc. There is a great selection of books at super low prices.

Before and after, books and a blog....

The raspberry patch before:

The raspberry patch after:

I can hear you saying, WHAT HAPPENED???? Well me, my dad and dh decided as I don't have time to prune everything by hand and clean the patch out, I would put the lawn tractors blade as high as possible and mow them for this year.

They are so overgrown and full of weeds, we figured it wouldn't do any harm for one year. This way come Spring, I can start and thin them out and dig out the weeds etc, and make a fresh start on the patch.

Only one small problem I went and got a puncture in one of the tractor tires, so that sucked!!

I mentioned yesterday I would like to buy "The Backyard Homestead," by Carleen Madigan, well the book is published through Storey Publishing, and when I looked at their site I couldn't get over what a great variety of books they have.

They even have a blog called Inside Storey which is really intersting. I found all this by googling Carleen Madigan's name, and up she popped with this blog entry about Fiddleheads.

It's a miracle......

We have a built in dishwasher in this house, infact it's a Kenmore, just like the one I had at the other house. However I have been frightened to use it, as if it is like everything else in this house, there would be a problem with it. I was frightened I would flood the place, or blow a fuse etc.

Anyhow, yesterday was my dad's birthday, Happy Birthday Dad. So my dad and step-mum came over for supper. Of course my dad can't sit still for a minute, so he went upstairs into the attic with dh to do a few more little jobs, while me and step-mum went shopping!!

I made pasta sauce and pasta for supper with lemon meringue pie for afters, which is quite funny, as they are my step-mum's favourites, and dad isn't that keen on them!! Not sure what I was thinking when I planned all this out...LOL

When people come for dinner, other than the kids, I won't let any one tidy up after the meal. So when they went I decided to use the dishwasher, as dh was around and I figured if there was a problem he would be there to help out. Anyway, ran the dishwasher and there was no problem, other than it didn't clean the dishes properly as we don't have the same water pressure as we did in the city, and I never rinsed the dishes.

I was so happy that I didn't flood the place and something actually worked in this house..........IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

By the way this is for Liz, "The Backyard Homestead," by Carleen Madigan is worthwhile buying. I have already learned a couple of things from the book, and will be buying it myself, to have on hand all the time. The only negative thing I have to say about the book is it all about the States, however I just refer to the Gardening Zone, and I am gardening zone 5a.

Follow up to yesterday's post...........

What you all had to say got me thinking. I do believe if I had seen the show Mama Mia at the theatre, as a live performance I think it would probably have been more enjoyable. Going from a live show to a movie, it may have lost that "something."

I have also found that when books are made into movies I find there is a 50/50 chance you will either be pleased with the movie or just plain hate it. One example of this "Angela's Ashes," by Frank McCourt. The book was super, but the movie was just missing something.

I am sure you know of many more examples, and would love to hear all your thoughts on this?

Also as you may or may not know I am a Bzz Agent, one of the sites they are featuring which I found interesting is this site: Free Rice It makes you think, and is worth a visit. If anyone is familiar with this site, how do you know if they actually give rice?

Also here is a how too site that is interesting: Instructables

Did you remember to put your 25 cents into your pot today? You have already saved $1, just like that!

I am addicted to books!!!!

Book Close Outs is having a good sale on at the moment, so I took advantage of it. I got a total of 30 books and paid $28.48 for them, then another $13.69 on shipping, handling and tax, so pretty good eh? I will list the reading books, I have ordered a few other books for gifts etc, so don't want to list those.


ISBN: 9780060081652


ISBN: 9780312330613


ISBN: 9780345465177


ISBN: 9780399152306


ISBN: 9780425195901


ISBN: 9780446533669



ISBN: 9780451202826


ISBN: 9780670030880


ISBN: 9780670034024


ISBN: 9780684866055


ISBN: 9780743466301


ISBN: 9780758208415



ISBN: 9780812966817


ISBN: 9781416507338


ISBN: 9780340830109

I got a number of travel books all at $1 each, plus some other books. Guess I am going to be busy, considering I have only read four of the other books I got, I am reading a fifth one now.