The Sunday Salon 20 June 2010

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Life: Blog news update: Rundpinne will be getting not only a new home, but an all new look. Stay tuned for the details. My Twitter page already shows some of the new look, feel and colours to my new blog. I will be posting the new URL to Rundpinne when everything is ready to switch over, my designer thinks it could possibly be Tuesday (fingers crossed). I am very, very excited!

Family Update: Happy Father’s Day to my wonderful husband who is the best father to our sons. Today is his day and we shall make certain he is pampered. As for me, I managed to catch whatever germs the child with the wet productive cough had at the banquet last week. I spent the first part of the week fairly miserable and sleeping a lot. I am feeling better and able to get by with only one nap. My husband is back from his travels and it looks as though more college tours are being planned. We have literally had storms every single afternoon/evening for over a week now with no end in sight, which means perfect reading weather in my air-conditioned house as the temperatures outside are downright miserable.

Saturday Night: At home movie night with popcorn and my favourite movie treat, Good ‘N Plenty. We had a lovely time, even if we did not start the movie until later in the evening, it allowed me to get more reading in.

Read and Reviewed: I was feeling fairly down about only reading 10 books and reviewing 9 of them when I decided to add up the page count. In a week’s time I read 3,781 pages, so now I do not feel quite so lazy. I shall, as usual, list all the reviews I read this past week on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and as usual I love comments.

So what will I be reading? I am currently reading Day For Night by Frederick Reiken.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 13 June 2010

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Life: I cannot believe how busy June has been. My summers are usually hectic but so far life has been moving at a faster clip than usual. I can hardly believe we are almost half way through June! Time is flying by. I am contemplating switching to WP, however I lack the computer knowledge to make this transition on my own, so I would appreciate any and all advise.

Family Update: The family is busy but quite well. We had another banquet to attend, unfortunately this one was uncomfortably hot and about 90 minutes too long. All three teens have busy and naturally completely different schedules making juggling the cars around interesting to say the least. I cannot complain that my life is dull.

Saturday Night: Only one of the three teens was around so we chose to watch a movie rather late, but we had a delightfully good time so it was worth the loss of sleep. Sometimes it is nice to have one on one time with my teens.

Read and Reviewed: It was another slow week for me. This past week I read and reviewed 10 books, wrote 1 guest review and had 1 guest author post. I need to shift my routine around again to accommodate the hectic summer schedule, so far I am not doing so well. I will work on that some today. I shall, as usual, list all the reviews I read this past week on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and as usual I love comments.

So what will I be reading? I am currently reading A Hollow Crown by Helen Hollick. Check back for reviews.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 6 June 2010

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Life: For many summer is a fun and relaxing time, in my household summer becomes hectic and chaotic and this year more so than ever. I am not certain at what point parenting becomes less hectic, I know I have not reached it yet and yearn for simpler times when I was coordinating play-dates around nap times. I fully plan to enjoy this summer, with all the hectic and crazy days my guys bring to it, including graduation parties (wow are there a lot), graduation plans for my oldest, play practise- set-building (the fall play is started in the summer), early morning cross-country practises, and everything surrounding senior year. I know this year will go by all too quickly and I do not want to miss a single moment.

Family Update: My Birthday is on Tuesday and I am excited as usual. I love, love, love birthdays! There is nothing like having a stroke (or two) to put life into perspective and each year is truly a blessing. With that in mind Wednesday makes the one year mark of the death of our dear friend Jon, this is a painful time for us and especially for his wife and son. This week is most definitely bittersweet. My guys will be finishing up school this week and then the chaotic schedule of summer begins, thus cutting my reading down immensely. Senior year has already begun to impact our daily lives and I know it is just the very beginning. At least my oldest has his senior pictures scheduled, one ting off the to-do list.

Saturday Night: This week was not overly exciting. All three teens were scattered to the winds and being the romantics we are DH worked on a scientific paper and I read a book.

Read and Reviewed: The week did not go at all as I had planned. I have been in miserable pain all week, thankfully only another day before my doctor is in his office. My reading was drastically cut down due to pain I read and reviewed 8 books. I shall, as usual, list all the reviews I read this past week on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and as usual I love comments.

So what will I be reading? I am currently reading The Art of Devotion by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin. The review will be up this week so please check back.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 30 May

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Life: This past week as been a wonderful week confirming my decision the pass up attending BEA and BCC this year was indeed the correct choice. I would have loved to have met up with bloggers, writers, publishers, publicists, etc., as well as get the scoop on the upcoming releases (and I do miss that). However, I would never have been able to get this last week back and I would not have missed this past week with my family for anything. In the end the correct choice was indeed made.

Family Update: Our 19th Wedding Anniversary and party was a lot of fun and the cake was delicious! My car will be repaired this week, so for four days we shall be down to one car, which DH will have considering his long commute, making this week rather interesting as we try to juggle all the schedules about. The rest of the week was spent acquiring the proper clothing for the big night.

What I did on Friday Night: Friday was the big day and most of it was spent preparing. The evening was utterly delightful! DH, Twin A, and myself all dressed up for a formal dinner and awards ceremony.

The Theatre department knows how to put on a brilliant show. After a delicious catered dinner we were entertained by the cast as well as the presenters of the awards. We were shocked and thrilled for our son who won The Best Rising Star award. The evening ended with the unveiling of the line-up of plays and musicals for the 2010-2011 season and everyone appeared quite pleased with the selections. Auditions begin in a mere 5 days! If you have a school near you, go and see the performances, there are a lot of talent teens out there.

For those wondering (and who was not on edge about these facts?) my fingernails and toenails looked lovely and red, the little black dress fit well, I wore a red wrap and DH wore a matching red tie, I was able to walk in my extremely high heels without twisting or breaking anything and finally, I did not have any runs in my pantyhose, which I consider a huge achievement.

Saturday Night: Family movie night! This may not appear to be a big deal, unless one happens to have three teens, in which case, having them all home at once is cause for celebration.

Read and Reviewed: This past week was a rather slow review week for me considering all the excitement of the past week. I read and reviewed 11 books, actually one was a DNF, but it is spotlighted, I did almost finish it. I shall, as usual, list all the reviews I read this past week on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and as usual I love comments.

So what will I be reading? I am currently reading A Hollow Crown by Helen Hollick and will also be reading The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scotch. Check back for reviews.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 23 May

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Life: I am still sad I will not be at BEA and BBC. I will be missing out on making connections, meeting other reviewers, authors, publishers, publicist, etc, in person. I will miss out on hearing and seeing the newest ideas, releases, and missing some fantastic seminars. I cannot express how much it saddens me to not be involved. Yet, my family comes first, as it should.

Family Update: Tomorrow is my 19th Wedding Anniversary. We have a fun day planned then a small party with friends. Friday is my son’s big formal affair and I found a Little Black Dress, accessories and heels I need to learn to walk in. I am contemplating painting my nails. The last time I did was in the early 80s, so I am not certain it would go well. My oldest was in his first fender bender and hopefully it will be his last. Thankfully, no one was injured. There is an amazing amount of damage to my car. :( This is not going to go well for my insurance premiums. My iPad has not arrived, I have tried to get excited about it, so far, there has been no excitement on my end, although my family cannot wait. We experienced another rainy week and yet still managed to plant flowers in the beds and prepared hanging baskets as well as moved some shrubs around. Overall the yard looks much better than it did. Our neighbours are completely moved into their flat. We see them daily, but it is somehow not the same, yet still good.

What I did on Saturday Night: I spent Saturday night in a theatre watching Extreme Theatre 2010. My son and his drama friends had 24 straight hours (their work began Friday at 7:30 P.M.) to write, create, cast, memorize, build sets, work lighting, make costumes etc, for the live performance on at 7:30 P.M. We had a brilliant time and those teens are quite talented!

Read and Reviewed: Even with the loss of my glasses I did read and review 11 books. I could have done more but lost a day during the great glasses hunt. I shall, as usual, list all the reviews I read this past week on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and as usual, I love comments.

So what will I be reading? I am getting delightfully lost in Helen Hollick’s Captain Jesamiah Acorne pirate series. Reviews will be coming, but for now anyone looking for a novel filled with action, adventure, suspense, strong women, pirates, wit and excellent writing, her first in the series is Sea Witch.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 16 May

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Life: This past week rained a majority of the time, when not reading we either helped the neighbours or worked on our yard, which still requires a lot of work and was the focus of the weekend. My youngest son (the younger of the twins anyway) graciously shared his nasty, vile, horrific cold with me and I feel ghastly.

Family Update: Tomorrow we will be getting driving temps for the twins, our oldest needs to have his Senior pictures scheduled (this is where knowing what requirements the school has would come in very handy) and haircuts were scheduled for us all. However due to the deadly cold my son so generously shared with me, I feel horrendous, which means I must reschedule hair appointments and hope she can fit us all in before the formal dinner. The formal dinner is rapidly approaching and looking over my list of teen-related expenses (see above) this month, I may need to try to create an outfit from my closet or wish really hard for freak snow storm, in which case I am set in formal winter attire. My husband and I will soon be celebrating out 19th Wedding Anniversary. I have for 19 years hinted, begged, and pleaded for something, anything from Tiffany’s. He informed me a few days ago that he ordered me an iPad. It would be a lie to say I am excited.

What I did on Saturday Night: Family movie night! Pajamas, junk food and old movies, it was a wonderful evening in. Having 3 teens, it is difficult at times to get everyone together, so this was quite special.

Read and Reviewed: I managed to read and review 12 books this week. I shall, as usual, list them all on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and as usual, I love comments.

So what will I be reading? I will be continuing The Brothers of Gwynedd: The Legend of the First True Prince of Wales by Edith Pargeter

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 9 May

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Life: Happy Mother’s Day to all you mums who are in parts of the world that celebrate Mother’s Day today!

Family Update: My babies will be picking up their driving temps in a week (where did the years go?) Thankfully DH will be teaching them to drive. That will make 5 drivers (4 male) in my household. We are still researching and visiting college and university campuses, which are all beginning to look the same to me. There is a formal dinner DH and I must attend with Twin 1 and I have nothing remotely close to formal wear. Personally I feel dressed up in jeans, matching socks and a long sleeve tee-shirt. Time to have Terry go to Macy’s with me. He does pick out the nicest of clothing. I detest shopping.

What I did on Saturday Night: Our almost former neighbours and dear friends are for the most part moved into their new apartment and we celebrated with or first of many to come movie nights.

Read and Reviewed: Surprisingly, this week went fairly well, even with the commotion. I managed to read and review 12 novels this week. I shall, as usual, list them all on Monday with links. Do not want to wait until Monday? They are all up and I love comments.

So what will I be reading? Considering it is Mother’s Day I have no idea what is planned. I do want to start The Brothers of Gwynedd: The Legend of the First True Prince of Wales by Edith Pargeter

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 2 May

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Life: The past week was truly a dreadful one for me and I was unable to read and review as many books as I usually do and had hoped to read/review. For those wondering, we are still helping the neighbours move. It it taking forever, or so it seems.

Family Update: My oldest, as I type this post, is currently at his first prom. When I went to prom (a few decades ago) I used to to think the guys had it made, renting a tux seemed inexpensive. Okay, I was very, very wrong. Prom is costing us a small fortune for a few hours. I am hoping my twins will chose not to attend prom when it is time. Everyone looked lovey, and no, I shall not be posting pictures. I will update how it went next Sunday.

What I did on Saturday Night: I am typing this in bed, where I spent the day. DH was kind enough to take care of all the details with prom, pictures taken, and making certain all children are accounted for. He also made me homemade cookies. I am trying not to worry about my oldest son’s safety.

Read and Reviewed:It was a very bad week. I have only managed to read and review 7 books and 1 DNF, which was my first ever and I did not blog about the novel. I will have a comprehensive list of what I read and reviewed this past week plus what my upcoming week will look like on Monday.

So what will I be reading? I am hoping to read On Folly Beach by Karen White.

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 25 April

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Life: This past week has been spent helping our neighbours sort and pack their belongings as well as shop for new furniture (for them, not for my family). We moved some boxes to their new apartment but we were stopped due to the rain.

Family Update: We are always busy. With three active teens, life is never dull. One worked for months helping to create the set for the musical production at school and is now in the midst of the actual performances. Hopefully the rest of the family will be able to see the musical next week. Our oldest is still going through colleges and universities, trying to find the right fit for him. And we are all sore from packing up boxes (see above).

What I did on Saturday Night: Relaxed my weary muscles, ate Dairy Queen and spent quality time with my DH and the only son home.

Read and Reviewed: I did not think I did too well until I added up the reviews. Even with all of the chaos surrounding this past week I managed to read and review 11 books.

So what will I be reading? I am hoping to read The Lumby Lines by Gail Fraser

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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The Sunday Salon 18 April

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Life: This past week, strike that, the past month and a half has been nothing but chaos and lessons in futility. Everyday for 6 weeks, we have been working with our neighbours to help them find suitable housing, deal with surgery, mourn, and find out about disability vouchers. My husband and I have happily helped research and when we finally think we are getting somewhere a roadblock is thrown up in front of all efforts. To be honest, I am done. Not done with my neighbours, they are like family, however, for now they must struggle on their own. It finally dawned on me during the frantic visit I received an hour ago that they are not going to help themselves. Until they are willing to fight for themselves and what is rightfully theirs, nothing my family can do or say will help. Why it took almost 7 weeks to figure that out, I have no idea.

Family Update: We are still visiting college campus with our oldest, although his mind is quite set, yet he needs a few back-up schools.

What I did on Saturday Night: Out of frustration came my need to organise. I went through every book; solicited, unsolicited, and purchased by myself and scheduled a read and review date for each one. So, if you are someone who sent me a book without a confirmed review date, rest assured every book in my house has a date. With that said, my schedule is planned out throughout the summer with the allowance of more books to enter my life. I would never be so foolish as to think I would not accept or buy more books for a few months. (As I type this, DH is picking up Wolf Hall for me, I am weak).

Read and Reviewed: Surprisingly, this past week went rather well as far as reading goes. Even with all of the chaos I managed to read and review 11 book as well as post 2 Guest Author posts. The books I reviewed will be listed on Monday.

So what will I be reading? As I stated above, DH purchased Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel for me on Saturday and I plan to read at least the beginning sections to catch up with the book discussion group. I also plan to read Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey

Happy Reading and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

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