I as I sat up form bed this morning and looked out my window I see the light covering of snow that has salted its way across our yard.

First word of the day, “Ugh.”

For a Minnesota girl you would think this would be my thing.  It’s not.  It’s cold.  It’s wet.  It’s sloppy.  And it can really suck to drive in it too.  The game plan is someday we are not here for this part of Minnesota.  We hope to start leaving in November for warmer territory, and returning in mid March in time for warm up.  We have friends in the area that do this and stay in Florida.  We also have family in Florida….

Hmmmm…..

So is everyone getting the emails now for book sales at the big name stores?  Just this morning I received these two:

Christianbooks.com :  Has a huge selection of 80% off items.  I checked it out.  There are some great buys!  A whole selection of items under $2.

• Randy Alcorn’s Deception is $1.99 (if you have not read Alcorn you are missing out!  Fantastic author!

• Gift items too – cd’s for 99 cents…

Also Barnes and Noble has a 25% coupon off of one book if you use your Mastercard on your order.

Amazon is having Black Friday Deals Week going on now.  I seen a few things of interest there as well!

So thats what I have to share this morning.  I have a day in the office than off to the store to get all the things that I have procrastinated on for tomorrow.   I am purchasing two copies of Hunger Games for my boys and I will be baking out of the book healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day for tomorrows review.

Have you discovered any great book sales?

Do you have any reading plans for the upcoming 4 day weekend?

One day a Catholic Priest was walking down the street and saw a little girl on her front porch with a box of newborn kittens.

The little girl said, “Hello Father, these are Catholic kittens.”

The Priest said, “That’s nice, Bless you child.”

A week later the Priest saw the little girl again with the box of kittens and said, “How are the little Catholic kittens doing?”

The little girl said, “They are not Catholic kittens anymore, they are Athiest kittens now.”

The Priest said, “What happened?”

The little girl said, “Their eyes opened.”

Coffee Cup and I have only moments before we need to get to the office.  I was up late reading…. I put the finishing touches on a review I have coming up in a couple hours and I had to (had to!) continue on with Catching Fire.  I am a total addict.

Today should be a pretty smooth day.  Nothing really on the agenda other than the office, perhaps a little work out if my friend Heidi gives me a call and a roast in the crock pot so dinner is planned and in process.  I havent decided yet if I am going to go pick up those last minute things I need for Thanksgiving yet today…. or hit that tomorrow.  We will see how this afternoon goes.

Today I leave you with a recipe for Pumpkin Soup.  I think this will be on our menu for Thursday:

Morning all.  Coffee Cup I will be rolling out of here early today.  Normally Mondays have more time to hang out as my office days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday – but this week being Thanksgiving, I am going to go to the office today until about 2:30.

Yesterday Chance and I went to New Moon and I really enjoyed it!  I am just going to put my thoughts here as doing a separate post on it when I have so many exciting reviews yet to catch up on seems a little much.  So – first off I read all the Twilight series in January of this year.  Here is the review of New Moon.  (Take note I was not book blogging then I was more book journaling so no one was reading these reviews and they are not as “polished” should I say as they are now.  Actually reading that post now, I am kind of proud of it.  I had enjoyed the books and looking at my words, besides maybe adding a bit about the author, I dont think I would have changed it much from what I said.

As far as the movie goes, I really liked it.  I think the only thing I would say about it is that it moved so quickly through some of the scenes (and I know it needed to) yet in the book the motorcycle building and practicing and riding is longer, it shows the relationship developing stronger with Jacob and of course in a movie, there just isnt time so one ride … and move on basically.  Also, the return of Edward seems to come together faster, easier than it did in the book as well.  I remember reading the book and longing for Edwards return and Stephanie Meyer had really written this book well to keep us at bay with not getting what we wanted.  Like I said in my review, this book is a necessity to build Jake.s character up in us and in Bella.  Edward has to be out of the picture for this to happen.

Here are the other reviews of the series:  Twilight, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn. * Note – these reviews are fun to read because I am so open with how I feel about the books.  For instance, in my review of Eclipse, I say I want to bite Bella for being so wishy washy washy.  I want to bite her on the neck.  Fair warning. 

So – that’s about it.  It was a good afternoon!  It was fun to hang out with Chance and talk books!

Currently I am flying through Catching Fire and have reviews I really need to get written.  Yet today you will see the What Are You Reading Monday post and this afternoon I am thinking I am going to write up my interview I had with Pam Cope last week, author of the book Jantsens Gift.  This was a remarkable conversation and I cant wait to share it with all of you.

Have an incredible day!  Stop in, say hi, let me know about your weekend… the coffee is always on! 

Today my ‘Action Research’ class took a turn for the worse, beginning down the dark and cold road of statistics and data analysis. Whatever happened to research in the more qualitative sense where you go to the library and read through a handful of books, picking out important information and taking notes? One would think that that would be best suited to this course under the banner of a Master’s in Secondary Education, but one would be gravely mistaken. If one were to enjoy opening up Excel and typing in a bunch of formulas and functions in order to calculate the percentage of architects who have Z scores above 0.1 on a normal distribution scale, then one would be in heaven.

I am not this one. Especially considering my successes in any math-related course have been historically few and far between, I am eternally grateful to have a friend who not only grasps these statistical concepts with relative ease but deals with them for a living on an everyday basis. To Jeff: you are the savior of my standard deviation and the champion of my correlation coefficients; I owe my forthcoming success on this project to you.

I am so excited!  Yesterday I finished reading Hunger Games and I feel like I have just been given the keys to the club that is all things Suzanne Collins!  I seriously can not even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this book!  My review will be up later today along with my first use of the Spoiler Alert Button so those of you who have alread read the book can enter there and we can discuss the book in more detail!  I would really enjoy that! 

Yesterday my friend Jennifer and I went on an 18 mile bike ride!  Yes!  18 miles on November 21 in MINNESOTA!  The temperature was about 48  degrees.  I was totally not dressed right and after I got home spent the next couple hours in bed with a sweatshirt on and three quilts on my with the heat turned up.  SO COLD.

My vehicle loaded with my bike for the November ride!

In a couple hours here Chance and I are going to go and see New Moon!  I bought the tickets yesterday and I am really excited for this movie!

My In My Mailbox post went up late last night so if you are curious what entered the home of the DeChantal’s this week, please check it out here….

I have a 3 hour Leadership Training meeting this morning so not a lot of time here but wanted to grab Coffee Cup and say hi really quick.  I have winner s to announce later for the giveaways that ended yesterday.

This afternoon I plan to go to New Moon with Chance and I am pretty excited about that.  I also started reading Hunger Games yesterday afternoon and it is totally blowing me away.  I would have never thought I would have enjoyed a book with this sort of theme but I am so loving it.  Obviously more soon…. this will be quite the review!

You may have noticed my post on the Pemberley Ball.  Yes, I have been invited to a weekend ball of all things Austen!  Stop by and check out this clever event!

I am off for now.  Enjoy your Saturday wherever you are!

Does anyone elses day go like this?

I wake up and I am excited…. I don’t work today!  Imagine the possibilities.  I already have the laundry and dishes done so I really don’t have any household commitments… whatever will I do with my time?

I could spend some time reading – oh that would be nice!

Or maybe even take a nap – I haven’t done that in like forever!

Then reality sets in…

I am planning to work out at noon, but I really should get there at 11:30 so I can use the elliptical before class starts.

Oh – but I also need to stop by the office to get a count for tomorrow mornings Leadership Training meeting as we are having continental breakfast and I am in charge of purchasing and setting that up….

Oh – thats right I said I would stop by the book store and see what they have for Harry Potter in audio…. I would like to price out the first book…  should I do that before or after the work out?

I must stop by the movie theater and pick up our New Moon tickets for tomorrow afternoon

I really do need to drop those three books at the post office today.

And don’t forget supper…. it is Friday night, I should make something nice….

maybe we could watch a movie…. I should pick up a movie!

I need to get to Wal-Mart too and pick up my picture CD’s so I can mail out the certificates for everyone who went to Honduras….

I keep procrastinating on updating the Book Challenges I am currently in….  thats right, I did plan on doing that today.

I haven’t seen my Grandpa in quite a while – I really should stop by and talk with him…

and just like that…

the day is full. 

Today starts the Pemberley Ball.  Whatever will I wear? 

I’m now less concerned about the design of my blog/home page. I’m becoming more aware of my portfolio existence. So what if I don’t have a “home” page. If you search me by name all the relevant pages appear. The task now is to link them all together. I think this is done via badges… more research to follow.

A dear friend of mine asked me today if I would edit/proofread her papers  for the graduate program that she is starting in December and that she would gladly pay me for doing so. My first thoughts were, “I could certainly do this for free, because she is a good friend and I enjoy writing and editing as it is. It’s not like I have a lot going on right now, and don’t expect to have a lot going on in the foreseeable future, so I feel like I don’t need to actually be compensated for this”. Doing things for others and helping people out have always been interests of mine, out of the goodness of my heart and because you never know when your good deeds will pay off or you may need to ask something of one of these very same people that you helped out of kindness; if only more people were like this, perhaps there wouldn’t be such widespread feelings of entitlement in our society.

Needless to say, this proposition got me thinking. If I enjoy writing, editing, proofreading; basically all of the things that so many people dislike immensely, how could I turn this into something that could realistically be profitable and enjoyable at the same time? There is always the option of writing articles endlessly and sending them to either print or digital publications and hoping that you get one published for two cents a word, but there must be a way to freelance these skills of mine and others out to the general public. After all, it is the year 2009; everyone is connected to everyone else in one way or another, and goods and services are more easily traded than ever before. Now, I know I’m not the first person to think of this. There must be countless services like this out there, be it on the internet or in a little publishing shop downtown or just some college kid sitting in his parent’s basement in the dark looking for something to fill the time (curiously, the latter description sounds more like me than I would like to honestly admit).

The goal now is to find one of said services and get involved with it, convincing them that my history/research/useless fact collection/avid fantasy sports manager background are what they are looking for in an editor. Let’s be honest here; I have plenty of time on my hands to write anything about everything, and if I could do it for an actual cause or an actual base of readers (aside from my avid blog fan base, right…?) then it would be that much more enjoyable and rewarding.

My mission is set, and I choose to accept it. More will come later, but I must indulge in a gigantic swiss cake roll and attempt to write some actual grad school assignment responses which are not nearly as engaging as you may think.

A friend once said to me: Everyone is always so convinced that they are the hero of their story. But I am pretty sure that I have always been the villain of my own.

That’s an interesting observation and I am reminded of the significance as I move slog through this chapter of my life. I cannot help but ask myself, who I am in my story? If I am such the hero, why do I spend a goodly amount of time feeling guilty? If I am the villain, why do I spend so much time feeling wronged?

Perhaps I am equal parts both. A sort of, “prantagonist”. Or maybe I am different players in different stories. Hm, that’s an idea.

With that in mind, the villain made a grand guest appearance in another story.

Breakups suck and there is really no way around this. My EF and I may go our separate ways but there are bound to be times when our paths cross, especially when the internet makes it so very easy to do things like, oh, I dunno, write blogs.

I take full responsibility for making my own life more difficult by actively searching out his words. But I have a very hard time leaving well enough alone. If curiosity killed the cat, I am very close to that last life. And while I did not expect his words to be a litany of truths about the relationship and subsequent end of the engagement, I was rather livid to find myself as the clear villain of his story.

Never have I even come close to nominating myself for canoninzation, especially when it comes to the less than mature manner in which I handled the end of our relationship. I can be and have been defensive and caustic. I’m stubborn to the point that I have been described as incorrigible. But my patience wore thin after years of testing and in the end, there was nothing left but bitter resentment.

Funny, that part was skillfully omitted. Fine. I get it. He is healing and I am his villain. So after reading his words I took it upon myself to live up to my role. I gave him a piece of my mind he gave me a piece of his. I said things I cannot take back and while they were true, they probably would have been better off living in my head.

Oh, and I crossed the line into psychotic-ville when I messaged a particular person involved and told her more of what would have been better off left unsaid. Ugh. Villain, remember? Not seconds after I did this, I felt remorse. The fact that in my eyes, my actions were vindicated only left me fearful that I was living up to this role of antagonist…and now my character had made a crossover from his story into my own.

The truth is, there’s no hero or villain. There’s no good guy or bad guy. I’m trying to live my life and so is he. This black and white thinking can only lead to no good, as I so clearly demonstrated and I need to let go of, or at least ignore, the perceived affronts to my character and decision.

Anger is the true villain here. And it’s high time I leave him on the editing room floor.

This morning I am Coffee Cup free.  Yup.  Don’t worry…. after 8:30 I will be back with Coffee and all will be right with the world again. 

A friend of mine had a baby 6 weeks ago and she and I had done weight watchers together before her pregnancy.  Today she is starting up again and I am a life time member but like to hold myself in check, so I will be going with her.  I am a little nervous for this initial weigh in as I am usually a pretty good eater but with the changes to our life in mid September when Chance came to stay with us, my eating habits changed and so did my work out schedule…. or lack there of.    Honduras is always impossible to eat right as well as wow do I love the food they make there and really do not have any control over what we are served…. go with the flow.  Anyway – this makes my first time on the scale in about 2 months.  Yipes!

On a  book note -  I found a link yesterday to a sight where you can download 100 free audio books.  I wasn’t an audio fan until this year when I had quite a bit of car time and then discovered I love them!  Finally a way to read and drive at the same time!  AWESOME!  I am a huge fan and haven’t looked into these yet but passing the info on to any of you who may be interested.  I usually prefer a background book over background music.

And my final morning note is last night I had an hour long conversation with the author of Jantsen’s Gift, Pam Cope.  I had requested an interview by email with her regarding the book and she responded saying she would rather do a phone interview.  How fun!  I think she interviewed me as much as I interviewed her!  Watch for that post coming up in the next few days here.

Later – I have book reviews (of course) and hopefully the Thursday Word Balderdash will make its appearance as well!  Have a super great day!

I posted this a bit ago, the day after the friendly state of Maine voted in favor of overturning gay marriage less than a year after it had been passed through legislation and made legal. Though the issue has calmed somewhat since the turmoil of pre and post-election, I feel that these words are still relevant and will remain so until the next time this gay marriage issue comes up for voting:

Just when you think we’ve come so far since the 1960’s and the Civil Rights movement, and the early 20th century and the woman’s suffrage movement, something like this happens and you realize how much discrimination and inequality exists right in front of us.

I don’t see how anyone who voted Yes on this could view themselves as anything other than someone who is actively and purposefully discrimination against the rights of a certain population. All of the people who say they are doing a service by preserving the ’sanctity’ of marriage or that you aren’t denying someone rights by voting Yes have never been forced to answer what I feel is the only important question; if you were told you couldn’t get married to your husband or wife purely because it said so in the Bible (which can be interpreted a million different ways, most often for the benefit of whoever is trying to use it against someone else at the time) and that you were denied the right to marry and express your love for one another under the eyes of the LAW…how would you feel? What would you do, how would you react?

This all comes down to a certain group of people feeling so enraged and wronged about a different group of people being given the SAME RIGHTS THEY HAVE that they have to go through all of the work to give themselves the opportunity to take these rights away. When reading quotes from these people who voted Yes, it sickens me to hear them say that no one should have the right to ‘redefine marriage’ or ‘we don’t want gay marriage taught in our schools’. Is regular marriage taught in schools? Do health classes or sex education classes touch on this issue in any more than a glancing fashion, and only en route to the discussion of other issues? Why would the legality of gay marriage suddenly open up the curriculum to Gay Marriage 101 where little Johnny has to learn the HORRORS of two people who love each other being able to marry (not that this would even be legitimately taught in schools ANYWAY).

The world has come so far from how it used to be, and I truly thought that those who knew what was right and what should be would win out over those who believed that God told them gay people weren’t allowed to be married or that gay people should all be shipped off to their own private island; just because gay people cannot get married doesn’t mean you have succeeded in erasing them from the Earth; when election time comes around again they will be back with this, and I will again be voting to establish gay marriage in this state.

I wholeheartedly believe in our right to choose, in all facets of society, and that our opinions and the personal feelings we have are part of our own rights as Americans. However, when I see people that voted Yes on this, I cannot support that; I cannot support what amounts to outright discrimination that has often been fed by exaggeration and lie and has forced religion to the forefront yet again in another political conflict; when will we learn? Did we not learn from the actions of the Susan B. Anthony’s, or the Martin Luther Kings? This is America, and for us to truly be built upon the tenets of freedom and equality we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the equal rights of any population group in this country.

I say this hopefully, knowing that it is likely that my words will do nothing except garner the support of a few friends on here, but I hope that others feel the same and the next time this comes around we can continue to express our beliefs as to what is right and what should be and give our gay friends and family the rights that they deserve and have been denied for far too long.

There are some mornings when I sit here with Coffee Cup and seriously have to rack my brain for something remotely interesting to say…  maybe I didn’t have time to read any blogs so I have no great books to direct you too and maybe I have nothing real exciting going on in my life….

Today – is not that day!

In fact, I knew yesterday evening what I wanted to do for today’s post and have been really excited to share it!  Actually I have two things to chat up this morning (Go Caffeine adrenaline go!!!).  First, I had wandered over to Petty Witters blog, Pen and Paper, and found a post that says she has crossed over the 500 visitors mark!  YEAH!  The funny thing is, she thinks I was the 500th visitor!  LOL, I am just happy for her and excited to see her blog grow.  You should check it out… she does great reviews and always posts funny things out of the newspaper or thoughts that crack me up.  Stop in today and congratulate her!

Secondly…. I was over visiting Vera at Luxury Reading yesterday and when commenting on a recent review she had up, I seen the comment above mine said that she wished there was such a thing as a spoiler button so she could see what happens in the book…. and that got me thinking…..

How many times have I wanted to share more in a book review and couldn’t for fear of spoiling a great plot for a potential reader?  I am really careful in my reviews to not reveal too much but the real me behind the keyboard (much like the Wizard of Oz) is shouting, “Oh my gosh I really want to talk about page 142!!!”

So….  full credit for the idea  going to the commenter of the Luxury Reading post, I have created a spoiler button.  Uh huh.  I did.

Want to see it?

Want to push it?  Go ahead.  I will wait.    ……………………

I am not going to use it all the time…. I wouldn’t want to abuse it!  I am thinking for those reviews when I want to say so much more.  The button will take myself and those of us who have already read the book, to a safe area where we can discuss it openly without spoiling any of it for those who have not read it.

Have a great morning all and I appreciate all your comments on whatever craziness I have going on over here!

I had always toyed with the idea of putting my thoughts and words down in some sort of medium, not that I truly believe anyone would actually want to READ these thoughts; perhaps if someone manages to stumble across what are sure to become rants and rambles they may not find these to be entirely insane and may even find a moment or two of amusement in them. I do not lead a particularly exciting life, nor do I pretend to, yet I do believe that I possess interesting thoughts and opinions that I (hopefully) share with others around this wide world.

It is with this premise in mind that I set forth on this blogging/rambling/sharing adventure with whoever may come across this in their internet journeys and be in a particular mood to enjoy those very things.

Morning all!    I feel pretty good today!  I think I have battled and won the cold/sinus/ bug thing that was plaguing me for the last week….  (of course the lower energy sit around time helped my reading….LOL)

Yesterday I made my way back into the gym and that felt great to make that step to get back on track.  Now I just need to keep on going….  I know my goals… now I need to get there

This morning I got up at 7, still a little later than I usually do, and put the Coffee on and sat down to write my morning post for the day and the rest of a review that will go up today as well.  Of course, instead I read comments and started blog hopping and well…. you know how it goes.

I found myself over at Esme’s Chocolate and Croissants Blog and seen a review that she had written for a book called The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel.  I started to read her review and about 3/4 of the way through her post I am tearing up.  It sounds wonderful!  I am shocked at how much I am liking what I am reading and… well… I could tell you what it is about, but I would rather you stop over to Chocolate and Croissants and read it for yourself.  I am adding this one to my wish list.

Today I have a pretty full day, I work 9 – 2 and then my plan is to tan, pick up my Honduras picture cd’s at Wal-Mart, work out with my friend Heidi and then get home.  I have a couple more posts set to go live later today so feel free to stop back and help yourself to the coffee… it is always on. 

Today is project day!  I am three cups of coffee into my day and other than my afternoon work out I am going to get some things done that I need to!

1.  My reading Room is a disaster.  I have been so busy lately and have ran out of shelf space that I have been stacking on the floor and this is driving me nuts!  Currently I have books to be reviewed mixed with books I have already reviewed…. GAH!  Today that comes to an end!  I am making a call to a friend of ours to see if he can build me some bookshelves that go around the top edge of the room.  If I can put my keepers up high that will relieve the pressure of the bulging book shelves that are seriously only an injury waiting to happen! If they explode, I could lose an eye!!!

2.  I have procrastinated on putting away our lawn furniture.  I could kick myself for this and today looks like it is going to be around 50 degrees so I am doing it before I find myself doing this in the snow with only myself to blame.

On a happier note, last night I made the turkey burgers from The Biggest Loser and they were delicious!  They use a portobello mushroom for the bun and that is a lot of mushroom but they were so good!  I have linked the recipe here.  I will make these again.

Also – be sure to check out current giveaway when you have time.  I have several that end later this week that let you pick a book of choice and I added a couple over the last few days that include a chance to win New Moon, a chance to win a date night package, and a chance to win Picket Fences by Susan Meissner which was a wonderful read!  You can link to all current giveaways here.

Ok….  I have to get moving so I am off to have an egg white omelet and get going on my day!  Enjoy!

Coffee?

Check

The coffee is hitting the spot this morning.  I spent the whole day yesterday with three of my friends and we went to St Cloud (an hour away) to do some shopping.  I really didnt need any thing but it is always fun to hang out with friends.  If you see from my Mailbox Post below, we did stop at Barnes and Noble and I did get a few books I have wanted for awhile!

I love hanging out with these friends and we have great memories and are always making new ones.  I never leave home without my camera so here is a shot of my friend Sara and I at one of the stores where they had these boots for $130 a pair!  They are Coach brand but we thought they were the ugliest things which of course translates in friend language to “Put them on!”

Sara and I in "The boots!"

Ahhhhh memories!    Off to church and then later I have reviews to write and must keep on track to get them posted!    Have a wonderful day and may your boots be lovely!

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Heading to St Cloud this morning with some friends to do brunch and a little Christmas shopping.  We plan an event to catch up each month and this is our November outing.  I dont have a lot of shopping I need to do but it will be fun to hang with the girls and it will be a chance to go to my Mother Ship (Barnes & Noble).

Yesterday afternoon Al and I went to see the movie 2012 and a few blogger friends on twitter wanted me to post about the movie so here I go.

This was a movie that Al really wanted to see so when we suggested we see it on Friday afternoon – even to the point of him coming home early from our office to do this, sick or not – I couldn’t say no to such a sweet gesture.

The movie went above and beyond my expectations.  I was engrossed from the opening lines.  I loved the scenes from around the world.

John Cusack and Woody Harrelson do a fantastic job – Woody is in top from!

Seriously – fantastic.

The scenes of the earth crumbling were breathtaking.  As I seen buildings crumble, cars and people falling from large heights it really was something to see on the big screen and I openly cried at the thought of all the loss of lives.

Danny Glover made a wonderful President.  I appreciated his compassion and the mark he makes in this movie is an important one.

Amanda Peet plays the role of John Cusack’s ex wife.

This is my favorite person in the movie.  His character is strong and he really made the movie come together.

The movie was full of action and closing out at two hours and forty minutes and didnt feel long at all.  Right up to the end I was glued to my seat.  I found it insightful that as the earth began to crumble – all people – all race, all levels of income, all of us – were put on the same playing field.  The walls of differences had crumbled and the movie portrays that well.  Money does not buy you the security you think you deserve.  Class does not exist and we are reminded that we never really were any better than anyone else.

In the end, I liked the message I seen, not sure if that was what the movie was going for or not.  I found comfort in taking that away.

Highly recommended.  !

Have you seen it?  Share your thoughts here!  Are you planning to see it?  Let me know! 

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Head cold is still battling me.  I slept right through my morning group work out class.  Now I will aim for the noon repeat of that class.  I never sleep that long.  Three of the seven people I went to Honduras with are battling this same overpowering sickness.  Possibly more.  I dont know what thats about.

I was blog hopping this morning (or maybe in my weakened condition I should say blog dragging) and found this really cool thing called Wordle.  Here is what it does:

I found this through Yay! Reads, which I discovered through J Kayes blog post this morning.

And that is how I blog hop. 

Two days in a row of riding my bike after work. In the dark. And, on the days when I didn’t ride my bike, I emerged from the office building to total darkness. I’m starting to feel like a vampire. Really.

Well, maybe not really. I don’t have a craving for blood or anything. In fact, I’m the last person on the planet who would be looking for blood, being that I’ve been known to faint at the mere description of a particularly gory accident. So I’d make a crappy vampire.

Maybe I feel more like a mole. Are moles nocturnal?

Anyway, there’s something really surreal about this time of the year, especially when sticking to the ride schedule with my bike club. It’s like we’re holding onto the cycling season with clenched hands.

Darkness comes at 5pm? Ha! We have big bright LED Lithium-Ion lights, blinking tail lights, and clothes that reflect.

Cold weather? Ha! We have all the right kind of clothes. Thicker bike tights. We’re ready!

But nothing beats how weird it is to ride at night. It can be scary because you can only see so far ahead of you, no matter how bright your light is, and there are a lot of hidden dangers that force you to be even more aware of your environment than you are during the day. It can also be kind of exciting because the world is so different at night. Quieter. You can hear more of the world–scurrying animals, trees dropping limbs, dogs barking, cars way off in the distance. There’s even a general “static” of noise. The general sound of civilization, I suppose.

Cars approaching from behind can be seen a long way off. Their headlights are the like the eyes of dragons lurking in my rear view mirror. They are almost more dangerous to us cyclists at night, despite our being all lit up with our bright lights, because they are expecting cyclists on the road even less during the night than they would during the day.

I just can’t convey the whole surreal experience of my nocturnal musings. I get into a kind of funky zone mentally at this time of year. I spend all my daylight hours indoors so I feel like all my quality waking hours are done once the sun has gone down. Not even the endorphin kick I get from cycling can pump up my mood. Now is the seasons of hibernation; or, rather, battling the primal urge to hibernate.

I woke up this morning to a great smelling pot of coffee (if you have not tried Cameron’s Chocolate Covered Cherries coffee – bagged by the bean, I would highly recommend it.  Smooth and not bitter.)  LOL I sound like a commercial!

I was reading the Amazon top ten list for 2009 this morning… not the editor’s picks, but the customers picks.  It is funny as the two lists are so different and looking over the Editors picks, I seen a couple I would consider reading and on the customers list there were more I would like to read as well as some I have.  I had read none on the Editors List.

1.  The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown: This would be a “yeah I want to read it” for me.  I am excited as I have actually won this book when I participated in the Dewey’s Read A Thon last month and won in hour 10!  I cant wait to receive it!

2. Liberty and Tyranny:  A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin - This one holds no interest for me.

3.  Glenn Beck’s Common Sense – The Case Against An Out Of Control Government Inspired By Thomas Paine  : Again, this one I would pass on.

4.  Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man by Steve Harvey. Uhhhhh…. no.  I am good.  Thanks though.

5.  The Help By Katherine Stockett. yes, yes – 1,ooo times yes!  In my opinion, this should have been number one on this list.  The book is amazing!  Dont miss out on this book!

6.  Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenco. I read this earlier on this year and it is a fantastic book.  This is one I will return to again and again.  Considering my recent eating habits… I should probably turn to it soon.

7.  Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney. These look great and I have not had the opportunity to read any of them.  Have you?

8.  Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse book 9). I haven’t read any of these yet either.  I know!  I have heard such good things and once I get one in my hot little hand I am going to read it!

9.  The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. I honestly dont think I have ever even heard of this one.  It looks readable but I have no background info on it and dont recall seeing it in the reviews I have read.

10. Cook Yourself Thin by Lifetime Television. I would buy this for sure.  I like these type of cook books and am always looking for healthy recipes.

So… which have you read?

Which would you like to read?

What books are not on this top ten customers choice that you would have put on it?

Morning all!  Coffee Cup and I are slowly settling back into a routine.  I wake up at about 6:15 am and get the coffee going.  Pretty much pre – anything else…. I pop some lotion on my face, this morning we are going with the full out face mask to hopefully replenish the damage I did last week in the sun, and then open up my lap top…. which to me feels like opening a treasure box on an Indiana Jones Adventure.

Its funny to think that this routine started in June of 2009 when I discovered book blogging.  5 months later – I still love it so much!

Yesterday afternoon I was excited to discover I won a book over at With A Good Book.  The book is called Fablehaven and I love love love the look of this book!  Seriously look at this cover:

This is going to be their November book discussion book at With a Good Book. I participated in their October discussion on a Book Thief and that entered me in this giveaway.  Super way cool and made my day!

Today I have a book review popping up in a couple hours and I have some giveaways to clear up later today so take time to enter while you can!  I am also reminded that I need to plan another Word Shaker book club read….  hmmmmmm….