Happy New Year!!!

That's Luke wishing you all a very Happy New Year!! :)

Well, I had set a goal of getting 50 books read this year but I'm afraid I didn't make it. Came close..I have read 45 1/2 books this year but if I finish my current read it will be 46. ;) I still have a little time. I hope that maybe next year I will get 50 books read so we shall see. Besides getting 50 books read I also want to read my Bible more. Guess those are my New Year resolutions for this coming year. I would also like to exercise more...well, exercise. I don't do much of that now. Do y'all have any resolutions?

Oh, my outside cat Milo who had been MIA for a while showed back up a few nights ago. He shows up at night, wants a bite to eat and then he's gone come morning. So I have no idea where he is going but he's doing fine. Although, I do have some sad news...my parents had to put their cat down yesterday. :( I adopted Fletcher in 1993. He was this little kitten in need of a home and I gave him one. ;) Actually, one night a friend of mine and I were walking out to her car when I heard this noise. I stopped and asked her if she heard it when all of a sudden we see this little kitten heading straight for us. When I moved into a place of my own I decided to leave Fletcher at home with my parents so he could continue to go outside. He LOVED to go outside and I wasn't going to let my cats outside since I was moving to the country. Well, my mom spoiled him something awful. When I lived at home and let him drink out of the water faucet I would get into trouble. When I moved out my mom decided it was okay to let him drink from the faucet. lol Does that make sense to anyone?? ;) Anyway, if you could keep my mom in your prayers I'd appreciate it. She really loved Fletcher and I know she misses him terribly. Thank you.

Okay, now let me end this post on a happy note...oh, I know what I wanted to share with y'all a little info on the Kindle. I think some of y'all may think that it's like a computer screen but it's not. So if it's dark in the room you won't be able to read on your Kindle. It's really neat because when you look at the screen it looks a lot like paper. I've actually forgot that I'm reading a book on the Kindle and have tried to turn the page. lol The only con about the Kindle is you can't share you books. But that is the only bad thing about the Kindle. It's really neat...you can go here to learn more about it. Oh, my husband told me that he read somewhere that the Kindle was Amazon's #1 item sold for Christmas and that on Christmas Amazon sold more Kindle books than regular books! How crazy is that??

Well, hope everyone has a Happy New Year!! :)

In The Shadow of the Sun King by Golden Keyes Parsons

Earlier this month my mom and I were out shopping and I wanted to stop in at a local bookstore (surprising I know). I had no idea but Golden Keyes Parsons was there signing her books. :D So anyway, I finished reading In The Shadow of the Sun King this weekend and wow! I really enjoyed this book which is why I'm now reading the second book in the series. The book is about Madeleine Clavell and her family. I don't want to give too much away but Madeleine use to be quite close to King Louis XIV and because of that(and the fact that Madeleine and her family are Huguenots) some things happen to her family. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. It was interesting to read about the things this family went through simply because of their faith. This is one of those books that you say to yourself, "Okay, I'll go to bed after one more chapter." I'm sure you can guess what happens..you end up putting the book down about five chapters later. ;)

Product Description from amazon.com:

Madeleine's shared history with the king holds the key to her family's life...or death.

Seventeenth century France is an unsafe time to be a Huguenot. By order of King Louis XIV, all French Protestants must immediately convert or face imprisonment--or death. The king's dragoons ferret out the nonconformists, pillaging villages and destroying homesteads.

When the king's soldiers descend on the Clavell estate, the family's fate hangs in the balance. Quickly, quietly, they send their two sons into hiding, trusting that the young age of their daughter will guarantee her protection. But the dragoons will not be dissuaded; they hold the manor hostage looking for clues of their guilt or innocence. However, Madeleine Clavell, the lady of the manor, holds a secret--one possible chance to save the family. She and the king share a past.

Once a beautiful young lady in the French court whom Louis loved, Madeleine travels to Versailles to plead for mercy from the fickle king, hoping to regain his favor and save her family. It's a gamble, but she is left with no other choice. Madeleine soon faces an agonizing decision--one that changes her family forever.

Fall Into Reading 2009 Wrap-up

I can't believe that Fall is over and that Christmas is Friday! Wow..time flies. So that means that it is time to wrap up my Fall into Reading challenge. My original list consisted of nine books and although I didn't read all the books on my list I did end up reading a total of 13 books this fall! The one thing I have learned about myself by doing these challenges is no matter what books I start off with I will always end up deciding I want to read something that isn't on my list. But I did read three books off my original list and I started Rebbecca but decided to read that later. I also started reading A Rose From the Dead but just couldn't get into it so I moved on to something else.

I discovered a couple of new authors, Julie Lessman and Ariel Allison, that I love. I had A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman sitting on my TBR shelf for a while and decided to put it on my Fall Into Reading list. I'm so glad I did. This is a romance but it's also so much more. It's also about Faith who stands by her faith even though it means she has to end up watching the man she loves with another woman....her very own sister! I plan on reading the other books in the series hopefully in January. :) If you haven't read A Passion Most Pure I highly recommend it. Another favorite book (and one I again recommend) I read this Fall was eye of the god by Ariel Allison. This book is about someone who decides they want to steal the Hope Diamond. That's the book in a nutshell. This is a great book that has a lot of twists and turns. My mom read this book on my recommendation and loved it which is saying a lot cause she usually reads non-fiction. Oh, I did discover one other author, Melody Carlson. I read two of her books this fall, Limelight and These Boots Weren't Made for Walking both were great. I actually didn't think I would like Limelight when I first started reading it, the main character is not very nice when you first meet her. She's very self-absorbed. But by the end of the book she's changed and you've discovered you have grown to like her.

I got a lot of reading done this Fall and discovered a few new authors that I look forward to reading more of their books. So all in all I think I can call this Fall Into Reading a success. :)

Merry Christmas!!

Moggy Monday

This is a special Christmas edition of Moggy Monday. My furry babies put together a little message for you all. Merry Christmas! :)

Vanish by Tom Pawlik

I got an early Christmas gift a couple of weeks ago from my husband..a Kindle! One of the things I like about the Kindle is every now and then you get free books. I got Vanish by Tom Pawlik free from amazon for the Kindle. Vanish is about three people who wake up one morning to discover everyone has vanished and something is watching them. Can't say too much or else I may give something away. This is a very face paced read, keeps you turning the pages to see what is going to happen next. This book is a little on the creepy side though. I am bit of a chicken....I was reading this book at night (while hubby was snoring away) and had to go to the bathroom. Well, I was a little creepped (is that a word?) out so I carried one of my cats with me. ;) Anyway, this was really a good book and I plan on reading more by Tom Pawlik and highly recommend that you give him a try too...if you dare. Ha Ha Ha. Sorry couldn't resist. ;)

Product description from amazon.com:

2009 Christy Award winner!
Three strangers each encounter the same mysterious storm and awake the next day to find that everyone else has vanished. There's Conner Hayden, a successful but unscrupulous trial lawyer who has forsaken his family for his career; Helen Krause, a middle-aged model struggling to come to grips with her fading beauty; and Mitch Kent, an enterprising young mechanic unable to escape a past that still haunts him. Afraid and desperate for answers, their paths eventually cross and they discover they are being watched. Elusive and obscured in shadows, the "observers" are apparently forcing them to relive vivid hallucinations of events from their past. They discover a mute homeless boy in tattered clothing and believe he may hold the key to the mystery, but the "observers" soon become aggressive and the four are forced to flee. When the boy disappears, the four decide to head from Chicago to Washington, D.C., in search of answers…and more survivors. Winner of the 2006 operation first novel contest, Vanish is a nonstop suspense thriller in the vein of Ted Dekker.

Circle of Friends Award

Lee at Butterfly Blessings gave me this award! Thank you! :) The rules are that I am supposed to share 5 things that I love to do and then pass the award on to five other blogs. So here I go:

1. This will probably be a shock to everyone but I love to read. I have two bookshelves full of books that are waiting on me to read.
2. Knitting. I enjoy knitting and this year I took the leap and learned how to knit socks and I just recently knitted my first hat.
   
3. Nintendo DS. I love my Nintendo DS, my husband got it for me before we got married and I love it. Some of my favorite games are Style Savvy (you run your own boutique and get to pick out clothes for the customers) and I also like the Crossword puzzle game I have.
4. I enjoy watching shows like Cake Boss (on TLC). If you have never watched Cake Boss you should check it out..the cakes they make are amazing.
5. I also enjoy spending time with my hubby and my furry babies. :)

Okay so that is my list now I need to pass this award around so I am going to pass it on to:

Not Just Laura

Creative Madness

Cross and Cutlass

Some of my Favorite Things

Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot

My Top Ten for 2009

Lee over at Butterfly Blessings listed her top 10 books for this year and so I thought I would share mine too. :) So here they are in no particular order:

1. eye of the god by Ariel Allison
2. The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
3. Limelight by Melody Carlson
4. A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman (I need to read the rest of the series!)
5. My Life as a Doormat by Rene Gutteridge
6. Stealing Home by Allison Pittman
7. Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert (love this series)
8. The Dreamhouse Kings series by Robert Liparulo

So that is my list and I stopped at eight since I put the entire Dreamhouse Kings series on my list. Do you have a top ten? Or any books that you read this year that really stood out? Would love to hear about them...I'm always needing more books on my wish list. ;)

Moggy Monday

It's Monday so it's time for Moggy Monday! :) I'm sure you are all wondering how many cats I have well you are getting close to have met them all. But if your wondering I have ten inside cats and four outside. Did have five outside but I think Milo found a new home cause he started disappearing for a day then would show back up, then it would be a few days, and now it's a week. Since he's fixed I know he's not roaming but he's very friendly so I think he may have found a home where he was allowed in at least that is what I like to think. Okay, now for this week's kitty: Tony or as I call him Big Tony T. Tony actually started off as an outside cat, he started showing up around my house so I started feeding him. Then one day he showed up with a puffy face (infection) so it was off to the vet to get his face cleaned up and to get fixed. He is what I would call a gentle giant. He's huge...weighs 20 pounds! But he's really sweet and really good with other cats. I have no idea how he weaseled his way into the house but I do know that when he first started coming inside I would let him out during the day. He stopped going outside when Milo showed up, Milo is a bit of a bully. So then Tony had to make do with going out in the cat area instead of the wide open spaces. I don't think he's too upset about being an indoor cat though, he LOVES to sleep on the bed and couch. ;)

Once I went on vacation and I boarded Tony, when I got back and picked him up he was a little upset with me for boarding him so he left. I have no idea where he went but he was gone for a month and I was afraid he was gone for good. Then one day I came home from work and there he was like it had only been a day. He was covered in ticks though..ick. Wherever he had been I guess he decided life with me wasn't so bad after all. ;)

eye of the god

I read about eye of the god on Margaret's blog Creative Madness and since it sounded like something I would enjoy I put it on my wish list. Well, I bought the book a couple of weeks ago and I'm so glad I did. Eye of the god is about some people who want to steal the Hope Diamond. I didn't really know much about the Hope Diamond before I read this book but now I know more and I'm interested in finding out even more. I enjoyed how the author (Ariel Allison) weaved the history of the diamond into the present day story. So even though you go "back in time" the story still flowed really well. This is a book with quite a few twists and turns, definitely a page turner. I have to say this has to be one of the best books I've read this year. It really has everything in it: a little romance, intrigue, history, and great characters. I loved this book and hope she plans on writing more books. I highly recommend this book.

Product description from amazon:
When international jewel thieves attempt to steal the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian Institute, only Dr. Abigail Mitchell stands in their way. Abby soon realizes she alone holds the pieces to the complicated puzzle in this deadly game. It is in this context that her faith will be put to the ultimate test as she confronts the father who abandoned her, the betrayal of the only man she has ever loved, and the possibility that she may lose her life because of the legendary gem.

Moggy Monday

It's Monday which means y'all get to meet another kitty! I'm sure y'all are soooo excited. ;) Today is a special edition of Moggy Monday cause your getting to meet two today! Bonnie and Clyde :)

Bonnie and Clyde were two of eight kittens that were at the clinic in need of a home...all eight kittens looked exactly like the momma so telling them apart was pretty near impossible. Anyway, I was thinking of asking my hubby if we could have one when he helped me one weekend and saw them and said we would take two! lol I never even had to ask. So he picked out two and we ended up with the only boy in the group and a lovely little lady. They were pretty skittish so it took some time for them to warm up to us. To be honest, Clyde still doesn't really care for too much attention. I'm probably mean but I will kiss him on his head a lot cause he hates it...always hisses at me...cracks me up. But when he feels like it he will rub up against ya and let you pet him otherwise he's happy to be left alone. Bonnie is very shy and was living under the bed because she was letting some of the other cats bully her. But I've been working with her and although she doesn't venture far from the bedroom she does come out from under the bed now. Sleeps on the bed or on top of the dresser which is big move for her so hopefully in time she will go back to venturing out of the bedroom. I'm afraid that Bonnie and Clyde aren't close anymore...he picks on her. :( Since I have a brother all I have to say about that is..figures. ;) In the pictures I'm sharing there are two when they were itty bitty but when I took them I didn't know which was which. At that point we didn't know if we had two boys, two girls, or a boy or girl. So I had names ready for each: Tom and Jerry, Thelma and Louise and of course Bonnie and Clyde.

Busy Bee

Seems like it has been a while since I wrote a review or really much of anything on my little blog. I have been so busy lately it's not even funny. I've been so busy I only got three books read last month. :( I finished A Cowboy Christmas by Mary Connealy (I may have misspelled her last name) anyway, I finished reading this book and I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading more books by her. Atm I'm reading eye of the god by Ariel Allison and it's great! Highly recommend it. I'm about half way through it and it's hard to put down. Don't tell anyone but I've been reading it at work. See, my computer is a little slow so I log an invoice and then while I wait for my computer to do it's thing I read a little of eye of the god. ;) So I'm getting my work done and enjoying a book at the same time. Of course, if my boss caught me it wouldn't be too bad cause I work for my dad. ;) So anyway, I've been busy and trying to find time to read when I can.

Also, since Christmas is right around the corner I've been trying to knit some gifts..I really shouldn't have waited until so late to start my knitting. What was I thinking?? I want to knit my dad a brother a hat...I've never knit a hat before so this should be interesting. Also, knitting a few scarves for gifts. Love knitting scarves...simple and easy. :D

So that's what I've been doing...trying to get my work caught up, trying to get in some reading, and trying to get some gifts knitted up plus taking care of all my critters and my hubby. So hopefully, I will find time to blog more after Christmas but I just wanted to pop in and let y'all know I hadn't forgotten about y'all.

Now I'm off to my part-time job.......