Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Completing the Dream - My Own Personal Library!

My sister-in-law gave me this wonderful kit a while back. To be able to make my library all the better. Well, now that we have moved and I have unpacked almost all my books (still have at least one bin left), I have started to mark books that I know I will not ever want to get rid of. 

It has always been a dream of mine to have my own large library. On my bucket list, my wish is to have a wall-to-wall bookshelf. While I haven't achieved this goal yet, my husband did come up with an idea to build a reading nook in the master bedroom one day. Which means my favorite books need to be ready! 

Why bother with something like this? 

Think of how often you have borrowed a book. But you can't remember who loaned it to you. This way makes it easy. Open up and look in the cover to see a beautiful sticker marked with the name of the books owner. If you ever loan out a book, one that you love, you want the person borrowing to be reminded that it was yours.  

Checking out the kit

There is so much in the kit to use. Stamps, stickers, pencils, a book to write your book list down - well, just watch the video to see what I mean!

I'm so thankful to my sister-in-law for this gift. My dreams are coming true in a beautiful way!  If this is a goal you have, here is how you might start making it a reality.

Monday, January 4, 2021

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful - But the Books in Here Are Delightful!

While we are not dealing with snow down here in Texas, we are still having chilly and wet weather. I, for one, haven't been wanting to go out in it. Between the stress of a kiddo that wasn't feeling well and my own pain, I have been keeping at home. However, I can only drown my stress in cleaning for so long. Our home isn't that big. So what else am I to do in the meantime? Well, I have been writing! No, not here on the blog. I'm writing my own book! And I'm excited. But even with that I have to take breaks. So what is my next go-to? Reading! And for this blog post, I want to share all those lovely books with you. My favorites actually. Perhaps they will spark some ideas for you. Give you inspiration while you are stuck inside. So get cozy, grab your favorite beverage, and let us dive into world's unknown!

Fiction

The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas - This was new at the local library, and I thought a modern superhero/villain story might be cool. I'm more into Young Adult stories than the adult fiction. Less raunchy and more inventive. So bear with me here. This story follows a girl who just wants to be noticed. Daddy is the Mayor, and older brother is a superhero. She's just - herself. Your average good girl, leading an average teens life. That is, until she meets the supervillain. Or is he? This story was very well written. Enough twists to keep you guessing, but written to make it easy to follow. This takes falling for the bad boy in a positive track for a change. I mean, after all, how bad can he be if he gives her chocolate bars?

The Jackaby series by William Ritter - I love stories that bring fantastic characters to life in a more modern age. Elves, fairies, giants, ogres - you get the picture. But what about those in the human world with a gift for seeing them? That is Jackaby. And he takes on Abigail Rook as his efficient assistant. Think of it as a twist to Sherlock Holmes, where they meet dragons, ghosts, a banshee, and even make a friend in an ex-policeman who can become a large dog. They are, however, set in America when electricity was an exciting new idea. I'm currently finished with all but the last in this series (have to buy it soon as the library doesn't have it). I can't wait to see the grand finale and learn how our heroes will stop the destruction of human life. And I look forward to adding it to my personal collection one day.

The Crimson Thread by Suzanne Weyn - Another fairy tale, of a sort. Again, I love them! And this one is a modern re-telling of the classic story, Rumpelstiltskin. Out of all the fairy tales, this was one of my least favorites. Who promises their first born child for a quick fix?? Well, this story gives that one a makeover that had me in love with it! It gives glimpses into the lives of immigrants from overseas in the olden days. Days when women didn't have the rights we enjoy today, but they had strength that some of us dream we had. I greatly enjoyed the historical references being tied together with a more realistic version of the events that led to a happily ever after ending. Including a better explanation for the firstborn!

The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot by Josh Gottsegen - This one was not something I thought I would enjoy when I started reading it. The description of it, the fact that it is written more for kids, well... Didn't strike any bells for my fancy. However, after I started reading it, I couldn't stop! All the characters are animal, but their emotions and actions mimic human so much so that you forget you are reading about a chipmunk. This story tells about the life of one in particular - Rockford T. Honeypot. It walks the reader through challenges that come in real life and the endurance Rockford had to overcome them all. It was heartwarming and something that I think was good for all ages. I also enjoyed the references he tied in to popular culture.

Non-fiction

I'm sad to say that I only have one book on this list that is non-fiction. Haven't had any recent reads to put here besides the self help variety that seemed better in their own genre.  Really need to get more non-fiction.

Real Life Organizing by Cassandra Aarssen - I love being organized. And neat. And as clutter-free as I can be. If I have piles, they are typically organized and I know what is in them. Even if no one else does. I enjoyed this book because of how down to Earth she was in her writing. How realistic she is and sympathetic to a family lifestyle. Her ideas have inspired me to work harder at creating the home I dream of that is fully functional, yet stylish for my family. She even includes helpful inserts in the back of her book.  

Self Help and Betterment

A Script for Aspiring Women Leaders: 5 Keys to Success by Mark Villareal and Crystal Ann Suniga - I was excited when this book came out. I worked with both authors in different ways and enjoyed seeing how Ann rose from entry level to become a Million Dollar Producer, all with the help of an amazing manager - Mark Villareal. This book gave details and scenarios that will enable the reader to follow through the process as if they were there. You can then start applying the techniques to your own goals and see how far you can go with them.

The Millennial Factor:10-Steps to Managing Millennials to Success by Mark Villareal - Though I don't work anymore, this book gave some great insight. Millennials are the butt of many jokes these days. Self-righteous, lazy, entitled - there are so many ways to describe them. However, Mark Villareal has a managers good heart to see past these characteristics. He knows how to approach, manage and boost productivity of even the worst of them. In this book, he outlines some scenarios and how to best deal with those described.

Leadership Crisis Management: Understanding the 3-Stages of Crisis Management by Mark Villareal - If there is one thing 2020 taught businesses, it was how quickly they could lose productivity. Mark saw what was happening and wrote a book to prevent businesses from repeating mistakes and leading them down the path to bankruptcy and permanent closure, by giving them a process to follow. With his help, you can set yourself up to be prepared for whatever might happen. And hopefully, not suffer too much loss. 

These last books are all by the same author, and he has so many others you should check out if your goals include better business traits this year. He is a multi-time international best seller for good reason. I have been reading his sporadically throughout last year. Now I'm moving on to half a dozen other books I'm reading in turns. Including 2 daily devotions. 

What are you reading? And are you old fashioned like me - need books made of paper? Or are you riding the future with electronic reading devices? Let me know!

Monday, June 22, 2015

This has been a fun summer so far

While stores are getting ready for back to school sales, I'm still finishing up the summer activities with my kiddos. The Lego store started giving away the second Lego Star Wars poster in the once-a-month promotion they run. Now until the 28th I believe, buy ANY Star Wars merchandise and you get the newest poster. 
Next one comes around July 20-26. 
Any I do mean ANY Star Wars purchase. I bought a small keychain for $5 to get mine. Plus Carlos hooked me up with a Ninjago dual-sided poster. 
After the Lego store we went to Barnes and Noble to turn in our book list and get our free books. The kids picked out some cool ones. I wish I could've gotten one...
Sadly it's one per child, per summer. They do have a great variety of books though. So get reading! And enjoy the last bit of summer.