So Many Books, So Little Time

Hello and happy Thursday!  I am linking up with Bookish (and Not So Bookish Thoughts) over at Bookishly Boisterous. 1.) UGH.  I just started the next level of my Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVD and I hate it!  It's really hard and some of the moves feel impossible for an uncoordinated person like myself.  I try my hardest but it's a good thing nobody can see me because I'm sure I look ridiculous. 2.) I've been reading a lot of WWII era historical fiction lately and while I love it, I think I'm going to have to take a break from it.  I need to find something really cheerful to read for a change.  Suggestions are welcome! 3.) My mom is visiting this weekend so I've been doing a lot of extra cleaning around the house.  I really wish I wasn't the kind of person who cares about having a clean house because I just don't want to do it anymore.  I used to really like cleaning but now it just feels like one more thing I have to make time f...

Happy Thursday! I'm linking up with Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts over at Bookishly Boisterous. 1.) I have to stay away from eBay.  It's the devil! I just bought all of these Nancy Drew books to add to Julia's collection.  When she gets older, she is going to have a fully stocked library of my favorite childhood books.   In addition to the books I've purchased for her, I still have a bunch of my old books (like Anne of Green Gables, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) at my mom's house.  I can't wait until she is old enough to read these! 2.) I'm in a huge reading rut right now.  I want to read all the things but I seem to keep picking up duds.  I've only read two books this month; I have two more that I'm working on but I probably won't get beyond that.  I really need a good book to get me back in the swing of things! 3.) We are having my daughter's third birthday party this Saturday.  I've done a really good job of scaling ...

Hey! I'm linking up with the Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts at Bookishly Boisterous today! 1.) I want to read ALL the things right now despite having almost no time for reading.  I have been beefing up my library and goodreads lists and I'm so ready for work to die down and for my class to be over so I can jump into a ton of good books. 2.) I'm currently taking a class on the Holocaust right and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  I'm learning about it in a way that is completely new and it's really fascinating.  That being said, it's more upsetting than I thought it would be.  Now that I have a kid, seeing pictures of children in ghettos or lined up with their mothers to be shot or go to the gas chambers is just a bit more than I can handle.  It makes it seem even more unimaginably awful then before.  (Sorry for that depressing tidbit.) 3.) I got a new job (!) and I start on Monday.  I'm now frantically trying to tie up all kinds of loos...

I'm linking up with Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts over at Bookishly Boisterous . Trick-or-treating with grandma!   1.) We had so much fun on Halloween!  Julia was a Rockford Peach from 'A League of Their Own' and she was just too cute.  She can be pretty shy but she had so much fun trick-or-treating.  My mother-in-law lives in a very friendly neighborhood so everyone was handing out candy and there were kids everywhere.  It was great! 2.) I swore that, for the rest of the year, I would only read books I own.  Yeah...that lasted about two seconds.  I went to the library to drop some movies off and wound up having time to browse the shelves and ended up leaving with four books.  Oops. 3.) When I first finished grad school, I bought the first two Harry Potter books in Russian so I could practice my language skills.  Fast forward to many years later, I finally bought the rest of the series in Russian and plan to start r...

Hey y'all!  I'm linking up with Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts over at Bookishly Boisterous again.   1.) Our library book sale was last weekend and I bought these Baby Sitter's Club book for 50 cents each.  Yes, I'm already hoarding books for my two year old to read when she's older. 2.) I also may have just bought a couple of the Russian language Harry Potter books on ebay.  I read the first two books in Russian and now would like to try continuing to read them to practice my Russian.  We'll see how that goes.  They were about half the price that I paid for each of the first two so it was pretty good deal. 3.) I don't know what my problem is but I haven't finished a book in like a week.  I like the books I'm reading right now, I just don't feel compelled to read. 4.) We went out for some amazing Chinese food last week and this was my fortune. I sincerely hope it comes true.  I desperately want to travel the world. 5.)...

Hey y'all!   I'm linking up with Bookish (And Not So Bookish Thoughts) over at Bookishly Boisterous this week. 1.) I'm feeling a little burned out on historical fiction right now.  I have one historical fiction book for review right now but otherwise, I think I'm going to take a little break from the genre and read other things.  Usually more than half of what I read is HF but this year that is so not the case. 2.) As always, I've been a terrible blogger lately.  I have lots of things I want and need to post but just haven't had the motivation to do it. 3.) I'm so excited for Fall!  I love when the weather starts to get cool and I love all the fun holidays.  I'm also excited to start baking pumpkin treats.  I hate pumpkin spice flavored things but I love pumpkin bread, pie, cookies, cake, etc.  Last year my favorite pumpkin treat was this pumpkin pie cake .  It's so good! 4.) Speaking of Fall holidays, I ordered this Rockford ...

Happy Wednesday y'all!  I'm linking up with Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts over at Bookishly Boisterous today. 1.) I have purchased so many ebooks this month.  It's kind of ridiculous.  I get completely sucked into the Kindle Daily Deals and all of the $1.99 ebooks at Amazon and Barnes and Noble plus I really needed some retail therapy this month.  I finally added up how much I spent and it came to around $27; I was shocked because $1.99 here and there doesn't seem like much.  I guess I will be slowing down on that next month.   2.) I have no more shelf space at home and no room for more bookshelves.  Our local library has been having book sales more often and the Dollar Tree has actually had some good books recently so I have added a lot to my shelves in recent months.  I just cannot pass up cheap books!  I'm going to make a concerted effort this fall to read books I own so that I can start purging my collection....

 I'm linking up with Bookishly Boisterous' Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts again today!  Check it out here . 1.) I finally got around to opening up a 529 college savings plan for Julia.  For some reason, this makes me feel like a grown up.  I don't think we'll be able to pay for her tuition in full but it's better than what the hubs and I had (which was nothing). 2.) The hubs gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble for my birthday and I bought the Harry Potter boxed set.  It's so pretty (ignore the bad picture)!  I've decided to start a reread of them this year and hope to get through at least the first three books.  I've only reread the last book and I read books 1-5 over ten years ago so it's definitely time to go back to them. 3.) Speaking of rereading, I am taking the second half of the Laura Ingalls Wilder class this spring.  It starts in April and I can't wait to delve  into her later books. 4.) I have been reading sl...

I'm linking up with Bookishly Boisterous' Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts.  Check it out here ! 1.) I need to speed up my reading.  Right now I'm reading Prince Lestat by Anne Rice and I'm struggling.  I love the Vampire Chronicles but this book is very different than the others and I'm not sure exactly where the story is going to go.  I'm going to power through it but I'm ready to be done (and not just because I have to return it to the library on Wednesday). 2.) Speaking of the library, I hate having overdue books.  I know I'm probably going to have one this week but it makes me feel so bad to turn them in late.  Especially if I know there are people waiting for them. 3.) I've been trying to find the perfect white cake recipe for the wedding cake I'm making in May.  I have been trying out different recipes every weekend.  I think I may have found one but I'm not sure yet.  I'm going to try it with frosting this week t...

 Happy Wednesday everyone!  I'm linking up with Bookish (and Not So Bookish Thoughts) at Bookishly Boisterous.  You can check it out here . 1.) I have only read one book so far this month.  One.  I have had zero motivation to read despite having a million things I want to read.  I hope I get out of the funk soon. 2.) Have you seen this article? It basically says that reading on a screen before bed can seriously affect your sleep.  After reading it, I'm not super surprised because I do think that when I read on my nook using the glowlight, I have a harder time going to sleep.  I  kind of got the impression that it backlit screens were causing the problem so I'm hoping to just continue using my nook but use book light instead of the glowlight.  It also motivates me to cut back on playing with my phone at night (I need to become less attached to that anyway). 3.)  I am making a wedding cake for some friends of ours ...

 Bookish and Not So Bookish Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous.  Check it out here ! 1.) My sweet baby Julia turned 1 on Saturday!  We had a big party for her and it was so much fun.  I am really excited for all the fun things the next year will bring. 2.) A couple of weeks ago, we got some new couches.  I absolutely love them and the color they bring to our living room. 3.) I've known for a while that I was having some issues with my blog posts showing up on bloglovin' but I was struggling to figure out how to handle it.  A few weeks ago, I finally figured out what the problem was and got it fixed.  Yay! Now people can see what I post. 4.) Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon came out on June 10!  I have been waiting for it for 5 years but I think it came out at a bad time for me.  I am struggling to get into it.  I may finish listening to the 2 books preceding it and then dive back in. 5....

Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts is hosted by Bookishly Boisterous.  Check it out here !     1.) I am so behind on all things blog related.  It is completely ridiculous.  I need to come up with a better way of staying on top of things.  What I really need to do is write reviews as soon after finishing a book as I can instead of putting them off.   2.) Julia is 11 months old today and we are sending out the invitations for her first birthday party this week.  I can't believe it!   3.) Speaking of her birthday party, I am seriously obsessing about it right now.  It's going to be a lot of work and I'm a perfectionist so there may be a meltdown in my future.   4.) I just finished reading All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner and I absolutely loved it.  As a working mom who is constantly stressed out, it hit a little closer to home than I would have liked....except for the whole drug use aspect of it. ...

I'm linking up with Bookishly Boisterous' "Bookish and Not So Bookish Thoughts" again.  Check it out here !  1.) I've been plowing through books lately and it's awesome!  I've made really good headway on my reading goal for the year.  According to goodreads, I'm 8 books head of schedule. 2.) I have received a lot of review books recently.  It looks like things will be busy around the blog this summer. 3.) Julia got a cold from daycare and was sick all weekend.  She then proceeded to share it with me. I shouldn't be surprised.  There's no way a person can clean up that much snot and not get sick. 4.) The hubs is working second shift now so I'm pretty much a single mom all week.  It's not as hard as I expected but it sure isn't easy either.  I keep telling myself it's only until August; hopefully I can make it that long. 5.) I finished another Susanna Kearsley book this week.  I just can't say enough about how awesom...

1.) Julia has cut two teeth in the last two days!  This stuff happens so fast! 2.) I have the whole week off next week and I'm hoping to get some reading done.  I have 3 books to read between now and April 5 and I haven't been reading that fast lately. 3.) I'm going to experiment with a new review format.  I am not a good writer, I really struggle to write them and they are always just so forced.  I am going to try to have them be more 'me' and less what I think a 'review' should be. 4.) I think I'm going to keep this blog going a bit longer.  I'm definitely going to be a bit more discerning about review books but I'm not ready to let go yet. 5.) The weather has been gorgeous lately!  I love Spring and I'm hoping it will be a long time before Summer is here. 6.) We're going on almost 3 weeks of really bad baby sleep at my house.  People say 'it gets easier' when referring to babies but I don't know if that's true...

I'm linking with Bookishly Boisterous' "Bookish and Not So Bookish Thoughts" again this week.  Check out other posts here ! 1.) I recently discovered that my local library's elibrary has gotten a whole lot better than it used to be.  It's still not great but I have found several books from my TBR list that are available to borrow in ebook format. 2.) I am seriously fighting the urge to go on a book buying spree.  Not for budgetary reasons or anything, I just don't think I need to spend money on books right now.  I love my local library and want to get back to using it again.  Why spend money when there are so many books available for free at the library? 3.) I still haven't decided what I want to do with this blog.  I have commitments scheduled for March and April but I think I'm going to leave May wide open.  I am having a hard time deciding because I am also taking a class this semester and it's taking a lot more of my time than I expec...

  I'm linking up with Bookishly Boisterous' Bookish and Not So Bookish Things again.  Check out the other posts here !    1.) I am officially in love with Susanna Kearsley's books.  I don't know why it took me so long to read them because they are amazing! 2.) The tiny dictator that lives at my house (aka Julia) has not been wanting to go to bed lately.  Once she falls asleep, there's no problem but it's been taking her well over an hour to go to sleep.  The minute she gets in bed, she decides it's time to play. 3.) I'm really behind on writing reviews and other blog posts.  I don't why I constantly do this to myself.  It's hard for me to find the time to work on the blog but I really shouldn't let things pile up so much. 4.) My birthday is today.  I'm now 31 and I just don't know if I'm okay with officially being in my 30s. 5.) I need a serious attitude adjustment.  Normally, I can play nice and get along with...

I have loved reading the Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts posts at Bookishly Boisterous for a while and decided that I need to join in on the fun.  1.) We have started giving Julia solids and it's not going well.  We've given sweet potatoes and avocados and she hates them both.  I think she's not really ready for solids yet.  She doesn't even get that excited about cereal.     This is seriously what she looked like.    2.)  One of my bookish goals for the year was to kind of take a break from the blog and accepting review copies. In the past few days, I have accepted two review copies and all I can think about are ideas for keeping the blog going.  What am I doing?!   3.)  I don't know why but I really don't want to read the book I'm reading.  It's not because I'm not interested in it, I just have other things I want to read instead.  I have to finish it by this time next week so I ne...