You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition
Hope your Nan comes out ok Sarah.Janice my MAIL is a full time quilter basically. My wife and her 6 siblings bought her a subscription for a monthly quilty box I think it's called. It's an expensive gift but split 7 ways it's not bad. It gives her a surprise box of so much fabric each month. Quantity of fabric based on. How much you want to spend. Surprise being she won't know the fabric patterns until it gets there. Then there's the patterns instructions if you want to do it their way or do whatever you want with it. Anyway after all that I think her mother has basically said in not quite this blunt of language. Don't ever buy me any more gifts u less it's a quilty box subscription.
Rusalka wrote: "What? I have two / on my keyboard, as it is a real keyboard. One on the letters bit and one on the number pad. But who on earth needs two \ keys?."Mine are both on the main keyboard. One is beside the return key on the right and the other is by the shift key on the left. Crazy.
Sandra wrote: "Are you sure it is not \ and / ?"No. they are both the backslash with | above it.
Travis sivarT wrote: "Janice my MAIL is a full time quilter basically. My wife and her 6 siblings bought her a subscription for a monthly quilty box I think it's called. It's an expens..."That would be freaking awesome! I just looked and shipping to Canada is available for $10.00 shipping. And the teaser... "Next box ships on Oct 12." It's like a grab bag every month full of surprises and good things.
Must behave. I have fabric like I have books - more than I can deal with in my lifetime.
Okay, I figured it out. One box would be $53.45 CDN with shipping for a minimum of 6 months. Yikes!
That's why it's nice to be able to split it 7 ways Janice
That's a great way to do it.The local fabric store had 50% off on all quilt fabrics. It was like a zoo in there. I needed backing for a quilt I'm working on, so I was in and out as fast as I could.
What a fun idea for a party, Kimey! : )Hope your Nan is better soon, Sarah.
@ Rus & Kimey - great pics@ Sarah - sorry about your Nanna
I've got another bug! :( My great nephews stopped by with their mom and the next thing I know I'm sick again :(
KimeyDiann wrote: "On a happier note, here are a few of the vacation pics I promised. Just iPhone photos, I ran off and left my camera in the condo. Dolphin family swimming right beside our boat Mom, Dad(?), and Ba..."
Wonderful pictures. I want to go play with the lemurs!
KimeyDiann wrote: "Tonight we are having a surprise party for my mom's 70th birthday. I'm stressing out thinking about having to get everything ready this afternoon even though I'm sure we'll have plenty of time.
We..."
It sounds like the party will be lots of fun and a great success. Your mom will love how personalized it is. You'll have to share some pictures with us. (You'll have to see if Janice will pay your airfare to do a party for her ☺)
Sarah wrote: "My nan was taken in to hospital this morning. I'm really worried about her. She's 97. She's had indigestion, felt sick and been breathless all week but wouldn't go to the doctors but she woke my da..."
I hope all goes well for you nan. As our relatives get older it gets harder not to worry.
Sorry to hear about your nan, Sarah. I hope she will be okay.Anne, sorry to hear you have another bug. I hope you feel better soon.
Anne (Booklady) wrote: "I've got another bug! :( My great nephews stopped by with their mom and the next thing I know I'm sick again :("Germy children! Hope you feel better!
@Sarah, sorry to hear about your nan. Fingers crossed that she is okay. @Anne, hope you are feeling better!
@Travis, quilty box sounds like something my mom would love. But you should see her sewing room, there's enough fabric to make quilts for an entire army! LOL
The surprise party turned out wonderfully! My mom thought we were going to her great grandson's birthday party and had no clue it was really her party we were going to. When she got to my house, she made me help her wrap the gift she had gotten for my great nephew before we could leave. Inside I was laughing so hard, but managed to keep a straight face and helped wrap the gift. LOL. She was quite confused when we walked in and everyone started singing happy birthday. I don't think it hit her they were singing for her until they said her name in the song! It was priceless and she was quite happy about the whole thing which makes me very happy.
I was so overwhelmed with everything, I didn't get very many pictures, but here's a few of the cake table and cake:
Buttons, wooden spools with embroidery floss, a container of cute pins, a purple measuring tape, thimbles, and pin cushion surround the cake
Close up of the cake. Quilt cake surrounded by flower cupcakes.
Wow! That cake is amazing! Did you make it yourself?
I had an interesting few days. Saturday I was up really early so I went to McDonald's for breakfast and to read for a while. Later that day I couldn't find my kindle - I left it at McD's. My first thought - someone would find it and keep it (which they did) and they wouldn't like my books and would delete a bunch of them. Then I'd have to try and recreate what I had and that would take a lot of time and money. It wasn't until later that it occurred to me to wonder what they could access. I got it deactivated and ordered another. Talking to my sister later I couldn't help but laugh about my biggest concern being my books being deleted. There's something about you know you're a bookaholic when...Sunday I was lying in bed reading and something flashed by. I looked and there was a bird sitting on my chair. It flitted from closet doors to chest to anywhere except where I wanted it to go (which was out). The only opening to outdoors was the downstairs dog door - and it has a flap. I finally got it to go down the hall and into the living room and kitchen. I opened the deck door and tried to *guide* it that way, yeah, you know how well that worked. There's netting hanging partway down to keep bugs out, and the bird finally landed on that and worked its way out. That was one happy wren and one happier jmom!
jaxnsmom wrote: "I had an interesting few days. Saturday I was up really early so I went to McDonald's for breakfast and to read for a while. Later that day I couldn't find my kindle - I left it at McD's. My first ..."Sounds like you had an eventful weekend, Jmom! I'm glad the bird eventually found its way outside.
Thanks! I wish I could take credit for making it. One of my friends makes cakes as a side business and she made it for me. I sent her a couple of ideas and told her to run with it. I was very pleased with how it turned out. That is an interesting few days, Jmom! Were you reading Cinderella and channeling her ability to call birds? You should have let it stay, it might've helped you with cleaning and getting dressed! lol
What a great cake, Kimey. I love it. Your friend is talented. The decorations turned out lovely too.J'mom what an adventure you've had the last couple of days!
Thanks everyone for the well wishes. My nan is still in hospital. It's been a bit up and down but today she seems a bit better. She seems to be having problems with her diabetes as well now. She was just on tablets but they've had to give her insulin. They are also treating her for potassium deficiency. Not out of the water yet.Just on my way home from the grimdark gathering. It was awesome. I got a hardback copy of The Core signed so I best cancel my kindle preorder. I think I have the book early as I thought it was due at next week. Also got all the authors to sign my kindle so I need to find something to stick over it to protect it now. It was pretty busy and loads of people took multiple books to get signed. One couple at least went to a signing yesterday but still had stuff signed today. Crazy. This was my first book signing. Everyone was lovely. The authors answered questions put to them by the organisers of the event then the audience. I didn't ask any questions as all mine were asked by the others which was cool. All the authors were lovely. I particularly enjoyed hearing Peter Brett, Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence talk. They were all really funny. The new to me authors were great too so i'll buy those books now. For those interested, Peter Brett has a novella due end of the year/beginning of next as well as one more book in his contract, both set in world of demon cycle. The book will be set 15 years after the quintet. So excited by this. Joe Abercrombie is writing a new trilogy which he will release all together, a day apart. It might be a while until it's ready as he has just finished the draft of the second book. And Mark Lawrence has another trilogy planned in the same world as Red Sister. The other two authors are still working on their current trilogies. They discussed other stuff too but i'll mention that some other time.
The party you organised looked and sounded great Kimey. :-)
Glad to hear your nan is doing a little better, Sarah. Also, the grimdark gathering sounds great!
KimeyDiann wrote: "That is an interesting few days, Jmom! Were you reading Cinderella and channeling her ability to call birds? You should have let it stay, it might've helped you with cleaning and getting dressed! lol"It was a cute bird, but all I could think about was bird poop :)
Wow, Sarah, it sounds like that was a great event. That's so exciting about Joe Abercrombie. I still have to catch up on his current books. I hope things continue to improve for your nan.
Great news from the grimdark gathering. I would have loved to have heard those authors speak. Glad to hear your nan is doing better!
Sounds like a great event, Sarah! So very cool you got to meet them all.Jmom, do you and I have some connection or something? You remember those magpies the other week?
One got into the house on the weekend. It managed to crap on everything before I found it in the lounge room. Lexx calmly and slowly walked towards it, in order to try and herd it out the laundry door. It managed to find the kitchen window and panicked, throwing itself at it repeatedly, smashing everything on the window ledge and the sink in the process. Lexx caught him, took him outside, and we spent a good amount of time cleaning lots of glass up. Poor little guy.
This was after i found one had slipped and caught it's neck between the down strats of our garden gate, but couldn't get it's head out and was madly flapping so it didn't hang itself. We managed to grab him and free him too. He's now here every day. Pet for life.
Great tip for when we used to get wattlebirds caught in the bakery toilets. If birds get water logged, they can't fly. So if you have a panicked bird in the house you can't reach, get a spray bottle, and squirt it until it gets too wet. Then you can cover it in a towel and take it outside.
We'll have to call you the magpie whisperer, Rusalka.
Janice wrote: "We'll have to call you the magpie whisperer, Rusalka."lol!
Great loose bird tip, Rusalka, nee magpie whisperer. : )I am thinking that might be useful for the next time Tym escapes from his cage. He cannot fly, but he is getting to be impossible to catch. I wonder if showering him with the water bottle will make him a little more docile to being gathered up in a bath towel. Normally, he just runs out from under and we have to corner him, like a rabid dog. He will step up on a stick, but then he runs down the length and tries to bite your hand. His beak is like a switch blade.
Yeah, large parrot beaks worry me.
Rusalka wrote: "Yeah, large parrot beaks worry me."It is not like a macaw or cockatoo beak, but it does have a nasty point on the end. Size-wise, he is not quite as big as a magpie, but he is fast!
Rusalka wrote: "Sounds like a great event, Sarah! So very cool you got to meet them all.Jmom, do you and I have some connection or something? You remember those magpies the other week?
One got into the house o..."
Love your story. At least mine didn't poop in the house - only knocked a lot of dirt out of some planters. You should read The Magpie Lord to further your connection (it's a really good book too).
I just noticed I have 22 books listed as currently reading. And that's assuming I marked every book I've began. I'm guessing it's more like 25-30 and all of them but 2 are done. In fact the ones I'm reading right now are not listed. If I could break this lazy bone and rate them I would be completed with the yearly challenge and done with stage 2 of the ylto yearly challenge as well. Probably have a good bunch of stage 3 done. Why can't I motivate myself to rate my finished books. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I finish a book and I happen to be taking a break at the time and I just hop on gr rate and often write a review. It's like if I don't rate a book within 10 minutes of inishing it it doesn't get done
That would bug me, Travis. I'd at least have to mark them as read so they would get off of my currently reading list. But then it would bug me when I looked at my read list to see a whole bunch of books without ratings, but not as much as having finished books still listed as currently reading. lol. I guess we all have our quirks.
Travis, why don't you just mark them as read and apply them to all your challenges? You can always go back through your read books shelf and rate them later if you get around to it.
I would do that too Travis. In the last week I worked on Friday, Tuesday, Thursday and today. Friday I had a 1.5 hour train delay, Tuesday 1 hour, Thursday 20 minutes on the way to work and 10 minutes on the way back, and today again 30 minutes. It's starting to get pretty annoying..
I'll never go back. And if I mark them as read I'll forget about them. It's such a hassle doing it all on my phone. I suppose someday we'll fix the computer. Our router melted months ago and we've just never bought a new one . I really don't use my bookshelf except to find my place in a series. Just did that yesterday as I've read 17 and own about 4 more but don't own 18 for some reason. Mostly because its a series which has about 5 side series and to truly read in order you have to chek the numbers of the universe not the series
Travis sivarT wrote: "I'll never go back. And if I mark them as read I'll forget about them. "You're like me. I do this too, for the same reason. But 22 is impressive.
I couldn't live with so many books in my currently reading shelf! You could mark them as read, as suggested, and create also a "waiting for rating" shelf. This way you could find them easily when you fell in the mood of rating books.
Sandra's idea is a really good compromise!
And all of this reminds me I probably need to update my yearly challenge folder.
I had a "to review" shelf at one point. It worked for a bit but then that got piled up and forgotten. I think having it on the "currently reading" shelf is more of a reminder.Sorry for my absence. I'm down visiting my nan. She is not good. She has heart failure and there is nothing that can be done other than making her comfortable. She's being passed on to palliative care team on Monday. So sad.
Sarah wrote: "I had a "to review" shelf at one point. It worked for a bit but then that got piled up and forgotten. I think having it on the "currently reading" shelf is more of a reminder.Sorry for my absence..."
Really sorry to hear about your nan, Sarah. How sad :(
Sorry to hear about your nan, Sarah :(
I'm so sorry to hear about your Nan, Sarah. It sounds like it she is being well looked after, and I hope you get to spend as much time with her as possible.
So sorry about your nan, Sarah.
Awww - I'm very sorry about your nan, Sarah. I'll be thinking of you.
I'm headed to the mountains for another getaway with my Dad, so I will have limited access. I'll be back Monday evening.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
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Thanks guys. I think I'm the one over reacting. I'm a bit emotional. If it were serious, my dad would have said to go down this afternoon not wait until tomorrow morning. But it doesn't stop me worrying. We're going to my partner's sister's house tonight to pick up my laptop so that will distract me a bit then we can drive down tomorrow to see my nan and my parents.