Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favorite Hobby and Why

 

The Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is hosted by Long and Short Reviews. They offer this blog hop as a weekly prompt to help you gain new friends and visitors. You don't have to participate every week, but consistent blogging seems to be the key to success. I can say that when I participate in weekly memes and challenges, I see the most traffic and comments at The Book Connection. 

If you decide to post and join the blog hop for a week, Long and Short Reviews asks that you share your link on their weekly post on their website (it will be the top post on the home page each Wednesday morning). The link list remains open for new links for 48 hours. Then visit the other bloggers participating to see what they are talking about that week. Comments are appreciated. 

Hobbies is such a great topic. I've had several throughout the decades. Some I no longer have time for, like cross-stitching. Maybe in retirement I will pick it up again. Honestly, I haven't missed it, even though I did enjoy it. 

There are hobbies I'm really not good at. Take gardening, for example. Through the years I've improved, but if there is a way to kill something, I have probably done it. Three of my seed packets arrived from Burpee last week. For the first time in twenty years, I am going to start seeds inside. We will see how interesting that is to the cats. 

The other hobby I enjoy and am good at is baking. Now, I can't make fancy cakes or elegant pastries, but breads, desserts, pies, and cookies are all yummy. Since I've chosen to eat fewer sweets, though it is killing me, I don't make them as often as I used to, but I love spending time in the kitchen.

What are some of your hobbies? Do we share any?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Jul 18

 Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday. 

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

Welcome back to Monday. July is moving right along. We made it home from North Carolina Saturday morning. As much as I love spending time away from the regular day to day, it also feels wonderful to be home. I unpacked Saturday morning, slept a few hours, then drove to Marlborough to spend time with my mother-in-law. It is late Sunday night as I type this. I am tired, but glad to get back into my regular routine.

I was also happy to see this little guy and our other cats when we came home. We take our dog with us, but the sitters take care of the cats. 

In my reading world, I finished three books.

Read my review here. 

Read my review here.

Read my review here.

I am currently reading this book by Jerome Charyn. My review will be posted September 23. 

I am hosting a First Chapter Review of this book on July 26.

Look for my review of this writing craft book on August 25.

I would like to read these books next, but it all depends on if I sign up for more book tours. 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

As typically happens when we are away, I buy books or download free ones. This year was no different. I picked up the first one in a bookstore on Ocracoke Island. The second one was a gift for my birthday.

The rest of these I downloaded to my Kindle. Honestly, there are so many unread books there, I shouldn't download another one until I read 10 of them.

That's it for me this week. Hope you'll share what you're reading and what you have coming up.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Mar 29

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.

We have come to the end of March. Most of it was mild, though we had some cold spots and a bit of snow. I finally took the driveway reflectors down. I have probably doomed us to a blizzard as a result, since it never fails that if I take them down or switch over my fall/winter wardrobe to spring/summer, the weather changes. 

My week was filled with appointments, a new listing, cleaning, and baking. The three-tier garden bed is now together. It rained this weekend, so hubby put it together inside the house. Theo (sitting in the chair in the background) supervised. 

This week I hope to get it placed in the garden and filled with dirt so that the potato tubers, carrot seeds, and bean seeds can go in.

I spotted the crocus in the mailbox garden on my walk with Theo today. Always nice to see first signs of spring.

I wanted to use up some fruit on Saturday, so I made banana bread and blueberry cake. I also opened the grill for the season and made steaks that night. 

As far as reading goes, look for my review of How to Overcome Insomnia All By Yourself later today. 

My review of Dog Band appeared at my children's book blog last week. 

I am reading these two. 

These are next. 

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

My physical mailbox has been a busy little place this week. All these are books for review. As you can see, I am not doing very well with my goal of not requesting virtual book tour titles. :) 

That is it from my neck of the woods. How are you doing? Are you ready for Easter? Are you celebrating with family? What's on your reading list this week?

My Favorite.. Thing To Do Next To Reading

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info and the upcoming subjects visit the My Favorite Meme.. page.

What a neat topic. Very tired and a month shy of 50 (gasp), I should probably say sleeping. LOL! It used to be cross-stitching. Who has time for that anymore? It really should be writing too. I mean, shouldn't writing be my favorite thing other than reading? I've published four books so far.

Alas, it is none of those things.

My all time favorite thing to do next to reading is...gardening. I am so awful at it, you would think it would be a source of frustration. I drive down the street and look at all the pretty, well-manicured landscapes. Then you get to our yard.

• There's the Blue Festuca Grass that is now hiding under some ground cover that took over one of the flower beds.
• There's the mulched ring around the lamppost that one year had tulips and other early spring bloomers. For some reason, only the green leaves appear and then they wither away. Too much sun, maybe? Who knows? Certainly not the girl with the brown thumb.
• On one side of the house are the hostas, which the voles attacked two years ago. They started to come back this year, but there are gaping holes left by those that did not survive.
• On the opposite side is a half dead lilac bush that took a wallop when a large tree fell during a storm (missed the house by about 6 inches). On that same side is the mint that I planted to keep the varmints out of the generator box. It has spread EVERYWHERE! Note to self: never plant mint anywhere other than a container.
• The flower boxes fell off the shed two years ago. Sadly, they remain in pieces. I need to buy new ones.

The one thing I usually have success with is the vegetable garden. Not great success, but I can usually grow potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and herbs. This year I planted those plus sweet peppers, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce (which I usually kill), blueberry bushes and a blackberry bush. I put the lettuce toward the back of the garden this year so it won't get as much sun. That should help.

Silly me bought strawberry supports and then forgot to buy strawberry plants. I might buy container ones to see how it goes. Potatoes grow great in bags. I'm trying carrots in bags this year too. 

Do you enjoy gardening? What are some of your favorite things to do? 

Beyond the Books - 2018 Spring Goals

Beyond the Books is a weekly feature hosted right by Kissin Blue Karen. Beyond the Books is a weekly writing prompt where she throws out a topic (mostly non-bookish) and others blog about it.

Spring is here, but someone should probably tell Mother Nature that the Northeast has had enough winter and the snow can stop at any time. Thankfully, we missed the brunt of this latest Nor'easter.

Since most of my goals center around reading and writing, I'm going to step away to draw up some more personal "me time" goals.

1. Plant a vegetable and fruit garden. We had one, but as soon as I went back to work it became almost impossible to keep up. I'm determined that even if it is a very small one, a garden will be in my yard this year.
2. Get back to exercising. Between work and taking care of the family and my in-laws, exercising has been non-existent. Need to change that for my own sake.
3. De-clutter the house. I'm renting a dumpster, taking a week off, and cleaning the house. I'll donate a lot, but there is some stuff that is totally useless. 

These are my three large personal goals. They are pretty vague, but my plan is to order some seeds by the end of the month, and hopefully, if we don't more snow, I can clean up the garden area by then too. As far as exercising go, I need to add it to my work calendar or it won't get done. I'm thinking maybe Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. First step to de-clutter is decide on a week off. Maybe it is school vacation week, but then I fear the girls will want to go out instead of help with the house. I might get more done if I do it when they are in school. 

That's it for me. What are some of your goals? 

Beyond the Books: Interesting Posts from Around the Web

Beyond the Books is a weekly feature hosted right by Kissin Blue Karen. Beyond the Books is a weekly writing prompt where she throws out a topic (mostly non-bookish) and others blog about it.

Today's Beyond the Books topic is: Interesting Posts from Around the Web


This one should be fun because I like visiting blogs to see what's going on lately.

A Guide to Northeastern Gardening was talking about the beginning of a new gardening year.

Caffeine & Fairydust had a powerful post about overcoming comparision.

Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf shared a review of Into the Guns (America Rising) by William C. Dietz.

Fit Foodie Finds posted a yummy looking recipe for No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Energy Bars.

Finally, Carrots 'N" Cake shared a high-intensity Kettlebell workout video.


What are some posts that caught your attention from around the web this week?