2006 Book wrap-up

Just a final list of what I read - and to be honest, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. I realized yesterday I'd forgotten A Girl Named Zippy and just added it.

The goals for 2007? To read one book more than 2006, to borrow from the library, to not buy books for the first 3 months of 2007 and re-evaluate this book diet each quarter.

Here's the list:

1. A Girl Named Zippy, Haven Kimmel
2. Mrs. Hudson and the Spirit's Curse, Martin Davies
   
3. A Midsummer Night's Scream, Jill Churchill
   
4. Lie by Moonlight, Amanda Quick
   
5. All Night Long, Jayne Ann Krentz
   
6. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
   
7. Now You See Her, Linda Howard
   
8. Falling Awake, Jayne Ann Krentz
   
9. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
   
10. Bare Bones, Kathy Reichs
    
11. The Etruscan Chimera, Lyn Hamilton
    
12. A Farewell to Yarns, Jill Churchill
    
13. It's Not About the Bike, Lance Armstrong
    
14. Storage & Display, Pottery Barn
    
15. Stylish Storage, Paige Gilchrist
    
16. Murder with Peacocks, Donna Andrews
    
17. Key of Valor, Nora Roberts
    
18. Honor's Splendor, Julie Garwood
    
19. Charmed (anthology), Jayne Castle
    
20. After Glow, Jayne Castle
    
21. After Dark, Jayne Castle
    
22. Fast Women, Jennifer Crusie
    
23. Survivor in Death, JD Robb
    
24. Knitting Rules, Yarn Harlot
    
25. Mason-Dixon Knitting, Ann & Kay
    
26. Origin in Death, JD Robb
    
27. Memory in Death, JD Robb
    
28. Carolina Moon, Nora Roberts
    
29. Susannah's Garden, Debbie Macomber
    
30. Second Sight, Amanda Quick
    
31. Deadly Decisions, Kathy Reichs
    
32. Class Menagerie, Jill Churchill
    
33. Silence of the Hams, Jill Churchill
    
34. We'll Always Have Parrots, Donna Andrews
    
35. Rebellious Desire, Julie Garwood
    
36. Unhinged, Sarah Graves
    
37. A Case of Bad Taste, Lori Copeland
    
38. To Die For, Linda Howard
    
39. A Groom With A View, Jill Churchill
    
40. Wendy Knits!, Wendy Johnson
    
41. Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch, Haywood Smith
    
42. Happily Ever After, Susan May Warren
    
43. Morrigan's Cross, Nora Roberts
    
44. A Deadly Yarn, Maggie Sefton
    
45. Embroidered Truths, Monica Ferris
    
46. Million Dollar Dilemma, Judy Baer
    
47. Angels Fall, Nora Roberts
    
48. Fatal Voyage, Kathy Reichs
    
49. 6 Rainier Drive, Debbie Macomber
    
50. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
    
51. May the Best Man Die, Deborah Donnelly
    
52. Knit Lit
    
53. Knit Lit (too)
    
54. Knit Lit the Third
    
55. Dance of the Gods, Nora Roberts
    
56. Valley of Silence, Nora Roberts
    
57. Midnight in Ruby Bayou, Elizabeth Lowell
    
58. Crime of Passion, Kay Hooper
    
59. House of Cards, Kay Hooper
    
60. Match Me if You Can, Susan Elizabeth Philips
    
61. A Stitch In Time, various
    
62. Flabbergasted, Ray Blackston
    
63. Family Man, Jayne Ann Krentz
    
64. Sweet Fortune, Jayne Ann Krentz

Mini update

Just finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Can't wait to read something else by her. I loved the imagery, the clarity of the story her words painted in my mind. I may need to find a used copy to keep since I'll need to return this one to the library.

Managed to check off item #22 last night. Sean turned 19 and we went out to Gustav's for dinner (his choice). He's making better choices than he was a year ago and has made the very adult decision to enter the Air Force. He's currently working at a local restaurant and working out to try to lose about 20 pounds.

I need to get a plan of attack ready for tomorrow. I have the day off and need to donate platelets at 6:30am, buy Kruz' shirt, buy beads, and maybe yarn, to make Odessa for the nieces, wrap gifts, and work on M&D's gift so I can mail it out no later than Monday if I want any chance of it making it to them by Christmas.

Christmas To Do List

1. Ship out Kim's Christmas box o' stuff
2. Ship M&D's Christmas box o' stuff by 12/16
3. Wrap Erin's last gift
4. Wrap Rob's last gifts
5. Finish buying for Rob's stocking
6. Buy lottery scratch-its for all stockings (except Kim's - sorry!)
7. Go to Jaminga and buy Kruz' shirt
8. Find pattern to make black beanie with flames to go with Kruz' shirt
9. Do finish work (seams, ends, buttons) on Miss K's sweater
10. Find dress or pants/shirt combo to coordinate with Miss K's sweater
11. Go to Beacock's music for Samantha's gift
12. Buy beads to begin knitting on Samantha's other gift
13. Determine the best gift for Katie J
14. Buy beads to begin knitting on Katie's other gift
15. Block out Karen's scarf to give on Monday
16. Work on Raye & Bonnie's gift to have ready by Christmas Eve
17. Get tree and trim it
18. Send out cards to family and friends (this makes a regular appearance on the to-do, but rarely happens!)
19. Buy gift card for kid's mom & stepdad
20. Make cookies
21. Clean house for after-Christmas visit by sister and girls
22. Take Sean out for birthday dinner
23. Check if I'm a great-aunt yet for the 5th time (Rob's family)

So I figure on getting some of this done this week, but we'll just have to see how well I do since I did nothing to make a dent in it last night. Instead I read Linda Howard's Now You See Her and finished it.

On my way to reading more

Well, I have reached 54 books so far this year. And I still have the month of December to go! I added to the list on the right, but I know there are at least one or two books I still need to add. And the pile of 7-8 books still to read and the others I keep picking up at Powell's and a trip to the library to fit in and not enough time to do it all.

But . . . I do love me a good book. I've picked up Nancy Pearl's Book Lust to spur on the goal of reading new authors. Because I don't have enough to read as it is.

Have I mentioned I know how to read?

It's National Book Month! It's also Mystery Series Week! I do love me a good mystery - a good resource is Stop! You're Killing Me! and this new link to Overbooked.

I've been keeping track of the books I read in a year (I'm a little geeky that way) and I find myself selecting mysteries and women's fiction. I prefer the "women's fiction" title much better than romance even though the authors are found in that section of the bookstore. I've found that I don't pick up just any book anymore in that genre - I've gotten pickier, found it harder to relate to the some of the situations and, well, just grown out of some of it.

So I find some authors I read over and over (Nora Roberts *immediately* comes to mind) and new ones that get me excited like Kathy Reichs. You know, I came across her books in Costco a few years ago and passed on it then. I guess I'm ready for her now. And it doesn't hurt that I love to watch Bones which is based on her and her character.

I keep a list of authors I want to read (note to self - tranfer list to PDA), have a stack of books by the bed that are next to read (it's at about 8-10 books right now), love to visit the library, want to get Nancy Pearl's books (ok I want to *be* Nancy Pearl when I grow up) and continually think I don't have enough bookshelves. I really don't, you know. I have books currently in stacks on the floor in our bedroom.

When I was trying to figure out a name for this blog, I wanted to incorporate my two loves - books and knitting. The knitting is recent (less than 5 years) but no less powerful in the impact to my well-being. Both allow me to escape from stress and pressures, both provide pleasure in the doing and the giving, both are spread in nearly every room of the house.

So what to name the blog? Well, after really thinking it over and changing the name from the original Just One More, to the short-lived Yarn and Books = Happiness, Yarn Pig made more sense and appealed to me.

Hmmmm. Long story short? It's National Book Month! Make an author happy - Read a book!

Work sucks.

Not enough time in the day to do anything beyond the basics and even then, it feels like only half of those. A co-worker is going out on vacation for 4 days and while we're splitting his duties among the rest of us, there are only 4 in our department and only 3 that do actual work. So his vacation means there will be only 2 of us holding down the fort. Ugh.

Below is a pic of the Trellis sweater I knit for a co-worker's first child. She was always wearing cabled sweaters so this made sense to me. It's knit in Bernat's Cotton Tots. Picture courtesy of my camera phone.



Did I mention the new desk we bought a few months ago? Ikea's Mikael. Love, love, love it. Allows me to put tons of stuff around without cluttering it up too much.


You can see photos of the nieces and nephew, our wedding photo, the turtle planter I've had for over 20 years (Thanks, Mom!) and the little tortilla basket we use for office supplies.

And Mom, here's another grandson fix:


Art was changing him into clothes to go play in the water and Kruz looked bored with the whole process.

I noticed I'd forgotten to add a book to the list: Happily Ever After by Susan May Warren. Christian romance. I'm trying to branch out and read different authors and that includes more Christian writers. This was fun, interesting and enjoyable. Not a review to get you to pick it up, huh? Well, I liked the bookstore/coffee shop setting, the struggle with the main characters to accept God's grace for themselves even as they encouraged the other's faith (gosh, not something I struggle with at all *wink*) and that the characters felt compelled to hide portions of themselves even though they longed to pour out these areas of themselves and have them accepted. Don't we all wish for that unconditional acceptance and love from someone? Thankfully, we have God filling that very tall order.

True to my name

I have been a bit of a yarn pig lately.

I've been knitting as evidenced by the shot below:



What you see above is a tank for a niece who's birthday is at the end of the month (I'll also be working on a sweater to make a sort of twinset for her), a scarf for a friend and socks for a sister-in-law.

The tank is in Sirdar Snuggly DK in Lilac (0219) and the pattern is the June 15th pattern from the Knitting Pattern-A-Day. The scarf is being knit in Frog Tree Alpaca in shade #82 (a grayish purple) and the pattern is FiberTrends' Paws to Remember. The socks are from the sock yarn received for Christmas - KnitPicks Dancing sampler - in Swing (23592) and I'm using my Ann Norling pattern for Wide Wale socks.

I've been doing plenty of reading as well. I updated the reading list on the right and since the holiday weekend, when Rob and I made a pilgramage to Powells, I have 5 more to add.

Unhinged by Sarah Graves - part of the Home Repair is Homicide series and the first one I've read by her. Enjoyed it and plan to hunt down or borrow the rest of the series.

A Case of Bad Taste by Lori Copeland - first book in the Morning Shade Mystery series. Christian fiction and the mystery is more of a puzzler - no killers and the only deaths are the ones tracked in the obituaries by one of the older characters. Fun and encouraging.

To Die For by Linda Howard - I've usually enjoyed her books. This one was a little different - written in first person, a character I couldn't exactly relate to, I caught on to the identity of the mysterious shooter earlier than normal. It was OK. Glad I bought it used.

A Groom With A View by Jill Churchill - part of the Jane Jeffry series. Fun, light and enjoyable.

Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch by Haywood Smith - first book I've read by the author and it was fun! I can see why women enjoyed this book. And maybe it's a part of me getting older as well, but I can start to relate to characters in their middle-age (granted I just turned 37, so I'm not in my 50's like the main character). But I'm identifying less with the books I read in my 20's and finding a wider range to enjoy. Like this one.