Tuesday Teaser

Another interesting weekly meme that I came across on my mother's blog that I thought I'd participate in this week is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.  It's really simple, just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


"He gazed at me for a moment, probably trying to decide whether he could get away with saying no.  Then, muttering "I know I'll regret this," he followed me out of the banquet hall.

Taken from A Rose from the Dead by Kate Collins.

  

Volleyball Tournament 1 of 2

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of sitting in a gym from 2 p.m. to almost 8 p.m. watching our oldest daughter play in a number of games as part of a club volleyball tournament.  They didn't do so well, in fact they lost all their games.  Bummer, but they are starting to play better as a team.  One thing we parents notice with the teams that we go up against is that you can tell the girls have been together for a while, sometimes it's as if they know what the girl on the other side of the court is going to do before she does it.  That's something that our girls are missing this season, but will come in time.  They have the skill, we just need a little improvement on the teamwork. 

While the big girls were on the court, the little girls made great use of an empty court next to us.  There were three little sisters there with our team and I think they made some new friends for the day.

They got smart and moved for a while after a stray ball headed straight to them at a pretty good speed!

I'm hoping that the girls can have fun today and do much better as a team.  I could care less if we win, but more importantly want them to play to their potential and just have a great time doing what they enjoy doing.  After all, what parent wants to spend 6 hours in a gym looking at their grumpy daughter!

Enjoy your day!
Mandy

Spring Reading Thing 2011

I love to read, but you already know that.  I keep seeing various reading challenges, but at the beginning of the year I was already stressed out with enough and wasn't going to add to it.  I read regardless of what challenge someone puts before me.  I saw the Spring Reading Thing 2011 at Katrina's blog, Callapidder Days though and it caught my eye.  There's no crazy count that I'd never meet, just simply list out the books you hope/plan to read from March 20 - June 20 and link up.  That's simple enough. 

Here's my list...

A Rose From the Dead (A Flower Shop Mystery) by Kate Collins - finishing this one up

Shoots to Kill (A Flower Shop Mystery) by Kate Collins

Evil in Carnations (A Flower Shop Mystery) by Kate Collins

Sleeping with Anemone (A Flower Shop Mystery) by Kate Collins

Dirty Rotten Tendrils (A Flower Shop Mystery) by Kate Collins

Night of the Living Dandelion (A Flower Shop Mystery) by Kate Collins (not yet published, but it will be)

A Crafty Killing (Victoria Square Mystery) by Lorraine Bartlett

Sentanced to Death (Booktown Mystery) by Lorna Barrett (not yet published, but it will be)
Murder on the Mind by L.L. Bartlett

A Killer Plot (A Books by the Bay Mystery) by Ellery Adams

A Deadly Cliche (A Books by the Bay Mystery) by Ellery Adams

Buttercream Bump Off (A Cupcake Bakery Mystery) by Jenn McKinlay

A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin

Deceived by James Scott Bell

Doesn't She Look Natural? by Angela Hunt

The Mailbox by Marybeth Whalen

Fame (Firstborn series) by Karen Kingsbury

Forgiven (Firstborn series) by Karen Kingsbury

Found (Firstborn series) by Karen Kingsbury

Family (Firstborn series) by Karen Kingsbury

Forever (Firstborn series) by Karen Kingsbury

That should be a good start.  I tend to get sidetracked, so we'll see how I do.  Once summer gets here and the girls leave for my parent's house, I have much more time to read so maybe I'll get to add to my list.  As it stands now, I average one book a week, sometimes two. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what others are reading as well, maybe I'll find new authors to add to my never ending must read pile shelves!

Flaunt your Flowers/Fertilizer Friday

I missed yesterday again, but as with the post I did this morning, I'm still pretending that it's Friday.  Otherwise I'll never get to play along with the other Flaunt your Flower participants over at Tootsie Time! 

I don't have a lot blooming, but I do have two new bougainvilleas that I added to the collection.  The first is another 'Torch' bougainvillea.  This one had the name 'Pixie' something or other, but the one I've had for years was sold as a 'Torch'.  It's different than the normal ones becuase it grows tall and then sends its branches outward and both the leaves and blooms are much smaller.  When I saw this one, I thought, "If one is good, then two must be better!"  Besides, I've had mine for a number of years and each winter I worry that she might not come back.  Another thing, in the years that I've had mine, I have not seen another one.  That was an additional selling point, who knows when I would find another one!

The other one is an orangish/pinkish color and I wasn't sure I had this one, but I needed it just in case.

My 'Vick's Plant' that my BNF, Amy, gave me is shooting out a lovely lavender bloom too.  For some reason this plant is really difficult for me, so I'm on my third or fourth go round with it.  It's a good thing she's right across the street and her plant is huge!!



A late blooming Christmas Cactus is my last flower for today.  I'm not sure why, but once she bloomed that first year, she always blooms closer to Easter now...weird.

Five Question Friday

Obviously I'm not so good with the Friday thing, but I like this...so, once again we'll just pretend it still Friday for the sake of this post.





1. Have you ever testified in court? For what?
I've never testified in court, not that I don't think it wouldn't be exciting or anything because I do.  I just run in dull circles I guess!

2. Do you still have your wedding dress?
I do not have my wedding dress and that's a good thing.  We flew to Vegas for the weekend to get married, no, not by Elvis and I do not like the dress I chose to wear.  I looked like a Catholic (which I'm not) school girl...still not sure what I was thinking. 

3. Is there a special place you like to go when you're happy, sad, stressed, etc.?
Oh my, yes!  Any of the above feelings are good reason to go to my favorite nursery or in a pinch any that is close by.  Just walking into a plant nursery can boost my spirits, calm me down or further encourage my already good mood!  The second place is the bookstore, same effect as above!

4. If you have kids, do they sleep with you? If you don't have kids...will you let your kids sleep with you when/if you have them?
My girls sleep with me only when my husband is out of town.  They used to fight over who's night it was, but now it's just the little one that jumps in and claims her spot. 

5. Do you watch late night TV?
I'd have to be awake to watch late night TV, so this one is a negative...I turn into a pumpkin at 10:30 with rare exceptions!
 
I'm participating in a Blog Hop hosted by Mama M at My Little Life, hop on over to join in the fun!

Have a great weekend!
Mandy

Writer's Workshop - An Hour To Kill

If I find myself with an hour to kill, or even if I don't for that matter, I'm going to call my mother.  My mother lives 3 states to the northeast and 800 miles away from me so if I want to talk to her I can't just drive across town.  With rare exceptions, we talk multiple times daily.  It's not that I can't go without talking to her, I just choose not to.  If by chance I do go MIA for a few days, I'll get the following call:

Me:  Hello

Mother:  Why haven't I heard from you?

Me:  I'm not sure

Mother: I'm having Mandy withdrawals

Me:  Me too, I just forgot to call

I'll call her on my way to work to tell her about my odd dreams, and she'll call me from the bookstore to tell me her  latest find.  She'll call me from Ross to tell me about a cute something or other that we need for our plants and I'll call her from the plant nursery to tell her about the "rare" finds I've found.  I'll call her to aks her if we have a book before I buy it again and she'll call me to read me the backs of the books she's either gotten in the mail or brought home.  I'll call her from the bathtub to read her something I just read while still laughing and then I'll call her again later to read it when I stop laughing so that she can understand what I'm saying.  She does the same, only I think I laugh more.  We take turns with our pity parties when they come up, we plan budgets together, talk about meals and strategize on how to get our kids to shape up or ship out.  While I'm raising two girls (14 and 10), she's also still raising two girls (17 and 14), so we really have a lot more in common than the average duo.  I call her and sing songs I've reworded that she has to then guess the real song. For instance,

Mother:  Hello
Me:  Hello, Mother, how are you mother...it's so nice to hear your voice over the phone.  You're sounding swell, Mother....I can tell Mother
Mother:  Yes, Mandy...it's Hello Dolly, again
Me:  I crack myself up

Thank God for cell phones, she won't text, but she does like to send pictures of plants back and forth and will comment on those.  Just don't try to initate a conversation via text messaging; it won't happen.  That's just asa well since I'd rather hear her voice anyways.  Sometimes I pull an  I Love Lucy voice moment and place a "person to person" call to her with my nose pinched...she loves those, my girls do the same thing. 

Mothers are a gift, even more so when you grow up and they can be your best friend.  There's not a person I'd rather spend extra time with on the phone or in person when given the chance than my mother...sorry, friends! 

This post was inspired by the prompt "You have an hour to kill on the telephone...who do you call and why." from Mama Kat's Weekly Writer's Workshop.

Lunchtime Finds

As promised, I stopped by the nursery down from my office to get a picture of the blue orchid.  Take a close look behind the orchid and check out all those Pitcher Plants hanging in a row! 

Is this not the most gorgeous thing!  They have an abundant supply of Pitcher Plants this year too.

From there, I popped into my favorite Half Price Books.  I started out juggling all my finds in my arms and had to resort to the basket.  The book count ended up at 22 for a grand total of $44!  13 of the books were on clearance for $1 and are all a series that I enjoy reading so no money wasted there.  I got to the counter and as we were joking about it being a good addiction, I said something about picking up so many books when my coupons are at home.  The cashier was really nice and said that someone had left a coupon behind and she'd let me use it...sweet!  My co-workers think I'm a little obsessive.  Maybe, maybe not.