Memorial Day (USA Holiday)

No matter what you do, on this unofficial beginning of the summer vacation season, take some time to remember ...

and thank someone.

This goes for all the women in the service as well!

Some Traditions:

Every Memorial Day, the U.S. flag is quickly raised to the tops of flagpoles, slowly lowered to half-mast, and then raised again to full height at noon. The time at half-mast is meant to honor the million-plus fallen U.S. soldiers who have died for their country over the years. Re-raising the flag is meant to symbolize the resolve of the living to carry on the fight for freedom so that the nation's heroes will not have died in vain.

Moment of Silence at 3 p.m.

Many will wear or put on display red poppies on this day as a symbol of fallen soldiers. This tradition grew out of the famous poem by Canadian John McCrae known as In Flander's Fields, which he was inspired to write upon seeing red poppies growing over the graves of World War I soldiers.



Information at the History Channel

January's Books Read

Main page

~ January ~

1. 204 - Put a Ring on It by K. A. Mitchell  (Mania)
2. 48 - The Adventure of the Gloria Scott by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
3. 165 - Alone for Christmas by Ashley John  (Mania)
4. 32 - Lost Cat by Roger Mader  (Mania)
5. 227 - Wish by Barbara O'Connor 
6. 266 - Buried Passions by Aiden Bates  (Mania)
7. 272 - Adrenaline Rush by Aiden Bates  (Mania)
8. 40 - Gertrude and Toby Meet the Wolf by Shari Tharp  (Mania)
9. 149 - Screw Santa by Joyee Flynn 
10. 143 - Hell's Bells by Joyee Flynn
11. 141 - Stupid Mistletoe by Joyee Flynn 
12. 145 - Tristan by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
13. 282 - Borrowing Blue by Lucy Lennox  (Mania)
14. 183 - The Road Home by Elsa Winters, Brad Vance  (Mania)
15. 142 - Carson by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)  
16. 70 - Dare You To by Riley Hart  (Mania)
17. 146 - Edric by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
18. 145 - Lennox by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
19. 142 - Dewey by Joyee Flynn 
20. 142 - Vencentio by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)  
21. 26 - The Musgrave Ritual by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
22. 143 - Wesley by Joyee Flynn 
23. 144 - Brody by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
24. 150 - Romance Omega Style by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
25. 48 - The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
26. 149 - Sampson by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
27. 162 - Baptista by Joyee Flynn  (Mania)
28. 204 - A Taste of Love by Andrew Grey  (Mania)
29. 176 - Mighty Men with Weapons by Addison Avery  (Mania)
30. 200 - Shiny! by Amy Lane  (Mania) 
31. 36 - Do-over by Amy Lane 
32. 37 - The Adventure of the Yellow Face by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
33. 204 - Fish Stick Fridays by Rhys Ford  (Mania)
34. 230 - Clear Water by Amy Lane  (Mania)
35. 266 - Omega's Kiss by Aiden Bates  (Mania)
36. 69 - Monsters Don't Scuba Dive by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones  (Mania)

  (Mania) = used for Monthly Mix-up Mania
I think I read something between Dare You To and Edric 16/17 but can't find it.

~ Books read in January: 36 ~

~ Pages read in January: 5,328 ~

Number of Print books: 4
Number of ebooks: 32
Number of audio books: 0
List of genres: 

~ Book/Reading Goals ~

Read and review at least one review book
Review at least one other book
Read one book from my dusty TBR pile
Read one book from my current TBR pile
Read one book from my ebook TBR pile
Read at least one library book
Read at least two children's books (12 and under) [1-Wish] [2-Monsters Don't Scuba Dive]
give away two books


 . . . blogging and real life goals have changed for January and February. Not sure about March

~ Blogging Goals ~

Am hosting EIGHT reading challenges this year!
Will need to say hi to everyone by end of March
Visit at least twice more during the year

Happy Monday - Mailbox and list of what was read
Terrific Tuesday - 1st Paragraph Intros and Teaser
Wednesday - WWW Wednesday
Purrsday - Cat Thursday and Purrs-day
Finally Friday - Friday 56, running/real life
Saturday - Shelf-ies, Quotes and Cozy

~ Real Life Goals ~

RUN! 1,000 miles the 2,017
Strength train
Keep uncluttering - not sure how much of my stuff will get done, I'm busy helping my Dad with all of Mom's stuff


Mileage:
Strength workouts:
Uncluttering victories:

Happy 2017!

However you celebrate, make it safe!

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2017

Purrsday

just a place to share the cute/funny/weird pictures I find while surfing....when I should be doing a whole range of things ;) Don't forget to head over to The True Book Addict because Michele has a meme going. With links and everything!

~*~*~*~*~

I thought I had already typed this up so please forgive me if it gets posted twice! If it does, I'll fix it but I don't know if I'll notice it right away.



This isn't a happy post but the pictures are nice.

My cat Sneakers crossed the Rainbow Bridge last week. The vet didn't think he was even healthy enough to make it through getting him healthy enough for surgery. Sneakers passed quietly while cuddling with me, assisted by the vet. I'm so glad my son (27) was there. Not only did he drive us to the vet so I could hold Sneakers, he drove me home. Plus he was able to say good-bye to Sneakers also.

It was the right decision but it still hurts.

His box was by our bathroom, I guess my going reminded him that he needed to!

He demanded lap space. At least I wasn't trying to type

Sneakers spent most of his last week on my lap

Saying Good-bye

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2016

Taking a Break

Just a heads up that I'll, hopefully, be off-line for much of the rest of the year. I've got a ton of stuff to do that doesn't involve my lap top and I'm going to try and get them all done before the end of the year.

I won't be doing the weekly posts that I've started doing :-( except Thursday. I've got some great cats for December so I'll be here for that. Plus I can schedule them ahead of time.

There may be reading challenge posts too but I'm hoping to do those in January.

 . . . crossing fingers that I can get my stuff done and stay away from you guys!

See you next year! Okay, maybe in a couple of weeks ;-)

edit: One of my cats isn't doing so well, so now I'm even wondering if I'll get my stuff done :-(

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2016

2017 Reading Goals

I'll get some cute pictures and will probably adjust the goals in the coming weeks but I need to get this out there where I'll see it.

Every Month
Read and review at least one review book
Review at least one other book
Read one book from my dusty TBR pile
Read one book from my current TBR pile
Read one book from my ebook TBR pile

Okay, that's 5 books each month. How many can you make challenge books?

edit: read at least one library book
and two children's books (12 and under)

Add to that . . . .

join to advertise but don't stress about reading challenges
maybe join fewer reading challenges - yeah, that didn't work!
April's A to Z
need posting goals too

Am hosting EIGHT reading challenges this year!
Will need to say hi to everyone by end of March
Visit at least twice more during the year

Posting Goals
Happy Monday - Mailbox and list of what was read
Terrific Tuesday - 1st Paragraph Intros and Teaser
Wednesday - WWW Wednesday
Purrsday - Cat Thursday and Purrs-day
Finally Friday - Friday 56, running/real life
Saturday - Shelf-ies, Quotes and Cozy
(yikes)


IRL
keep with the uncluttering
RUN!
keep strength training
give away two books every month

Okay, that's all I got for right now.

edit: 2,017 miles is too far for me to run by myself, I was going to go for half that and found this: 1000 mile challenge. Yea, I can go for this one! Still signed up for Run the Year

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2016

Memorial Day

This page may explain it for you, USA
.

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2016

Happy Pi Day

This is what I was doing last year but I was unable to find one for this year that I wanted to do. Maybe next year, it will go back to 3.14.
A lot of talk this year is about rounding up to 3.1416 and that just seems wrong to me.

Last year there was a physical race as well as a virtual one. Instead of measuring out 3.1 miles, they did 3.1415! I did my race on the treadmill, which only goes to two decimals so my distance was 3.15.

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2016

Purrsday and . . .

just a place to share the cute/funny/weird pictures I find while surfing....when I should be doing a whole range of things ;) Don't forget to head over to The True Book Addict because Michele has a meme going. With links and everything!

~*~*~*~*~

Have a great weekend!

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

So I'm going on vacation . . .

I'm leaving the family at home and heading to sister-in-law's house to play with their dog for a week. I guess you could say I'm house sitting or dog sitting but I consider it getting to play with their dog for the week.

I'm planning what I'm taking and while I have a list of stuff I usually take on vacation, the most important things this trip are my running shoes (walking the dog), my laptop/ereader, and a pile of books. So far I've got 10 print books. I seem to looking forward to reading Sabrina Jeffries ;-) Some of these are review books so look for a review post or two sometime this summer.

The Art of Sinning by Sabrina Jeffries (spotlight)
What the Duke Desires by Sabrina Jeffries (series)
When the Rogue Returns by Sabrina Jeffries
How the Scoundrel Seduces by Sabrina Jeffries
If the Viscount Falls by Sabrina Jeffries
99 Essential Weight Loss Blogposts by Kenneth Schwarz Ph.D. (LibraryThing)
A Potion to Die For by Heather Blake
Wishful Thinking by Kamy Wicoff (spotlight)
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones (GoodReads)
Closer to Home by Mercedes Lackey

I'm not leaving until Sunday afternoon so I've still got time to change my mind or add to my stack. I'll let you know what my final count is.

edit:  I added three more print books to my stack:


Snow Way Out by Christine Husom
Twisted Threads by Lea Wait
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein


 Finishing up an ebook I started before leaving home.

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Breaking it down - and Reporting In

Reporting in on last week . . . .
Sleep - I almost made it 24 hours, hoping to get back on track. Nope, work up about Midnight on Monday and couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I need to do. All messed up again.

DeClutter - nothing has been done here as I'm concentrating on exercise and blogging this month. 

Weight - 209.2. ugh, I really don't like telling you that. Bought a BeachBody program, crossing my fingers it works. Also my coach is a relative and I'll feel okay going to her for help.

ARCs - Echo Lake, In Mint Condition, Just a Minute, Kekula (tomorrow)

Reading Challenges - not sure where I stand on these. I'll need to sort things out in May, April is booked.

Blogging Challenges - Still doing good with my three posts a week, even if they are late some days. E, F, G, H, were complete reviews.

Exercise -
:p

Sleep - staying up all night and into the afternoon today. Crossing fingers that it will switch me around 

DeClutter - No plans to do anything until May. Husband will be out of town a few days, maybe I get some work done in our closet.

Weight - Still need to pick a day as an official weigh day. Received 21 Day Fix, wish me luck.

ARCs - I have BIG plans to review in April. Cover Your Eyes will need to wait until April is over.

• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - Just keep track of what you're reading until May then update all the challenges.

Blogging Challenges - WooHoo! "I" and "J" were both incomplete reads but nice reviews. So far, I'm posting all three plus the reviews and I have a couple scheduled.

• Sunday - Goals wrap up and plans for the week
• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday

Exercise - This plan hasn't changed. One day with the trainer and four days on my own. If I'm going to meet my weight deadline without moving it back (again!), I need to follow her plans for me. This week it is 45 minutes of cardio on my own, 4 days a week. If I'm short total minutes for the week, I can make them up on a rest day or have an extra long day.

Mon - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
Tue - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer
Thu - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
Fri - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Saturday and start the week with yoga on Sunday

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Breaking it down - and Reporting In

Reporting in on last week . . . .
Sleep - I almost made it 24 hours, hoping to get back on track. Nope, work up about Midnight on Monday and couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I need to do. All messed up again.

DeClutter - nothing has been done here as I'm concentrating on exercise and blogging this month. 

Weight - 209.2. ugh, I really don't like telling you that. Bought a BeachBody program, crossing my fingers it works. Also my coach is a relative and I'll feel okay going to her for help.

ARCs - Drawn to the Land and A Circle of Souls.

Reading Challenges - not sure where I stand on these. I'll need to sort things out in May, April is booked.

Blogging Challenges - Still doing good with my three posts a week, even if they are late some days. A, B, C, and D were complete reviews.

Exercise -
Mon - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
Tue - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120) . . . missed (in bed by 5 p.m.!)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer . . . she did!
Thu - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130) . . . missed
Fri - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130) . . missed
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Saturday and start the week with yoga on Sunday

Sleep - staying up all night and into the afternoon today. Crossing fingers that it will switch me around 

DeClutter -No plans to do anything until May.

Weight - Still need to pick a day as an official weigh day.

ARCs - I have BIG plans to review in April. Echo Lake will have a post up on the 6th

• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - Just keep track of what you're reading until May then update all the challenges.

Blogging Challenges - Six books read/reviewed? F, H, I. Plus Monday's a little early and this one. E, G, J need to be read/review. So far, I'm posting all three plus the reviews.

• Sunday - Goals wrap up and plans for the week
• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday

Exercise - This plan hasn't changed. One day with the trainer and four days on my own. If I'm going to meet my weight deadline without moving it back (again!), I need to follow her plans for me. This week it is 40 minutes of cardio on my own, 4 days a week. If I'm short total minutes for the week, I can make them up on a rest day or have an extra long day.

Mon - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
Tue - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer
Thu - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
Fri - 45 min with a target heart range (104-130)
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Saturday and start the week with yoga on Sunday

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Breaking it Down - and Reporting In

Reporting in on last week . . . .
Sleep - horrible, just horrible

DeClutter - I did one cabinet in the kitchen. Doesn't sound like a lot but I bought 4 bowls with lids and gave up 5 bowls with no lids. Plus I recycled a glass bowl/lid that was broken. Found my nut chopper and put a round casserole dish where we could find it to use.

Weight - Not feeling well, no real appetite. I've gone down 2.5 since I started the last time but I haven't weighed since and that may be because I wasn't eating well.

ARCs - nothing

Reading Challenges -not sure where I stand on these. I'll need to sort things out in May, April is booked.

Blogging Challenges - Still doing good with my three posts a week, even if they are late some days. April will be a huge challenge. Wish me luck.

Exercise - :p

Sleep - staying up all night and into the afternoon today. Crossing fingers that it will switch me around 

DeClutter -No plans to do anything until May.

Weight - Still need to pick a day as an official weigh day.

ARCs - I have BIG plans to review in April. Echo Lake will have a post up on the 6th

• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - Just keep track of what you're reading until May then update all the challenges.

Blogging Challenges - April is coming and I've got plans! My Day of Silence post for Thursday needs to be adjusted. Doing good with my three a week. April will have me posting Monday's on Sunday. 

• Sunday - Goals wrap up and plans for the week
• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday

Exercise - This plan hasn't changed. One day with the trainer and four days on my own. If I'm going to meet my weight deadline without moving it back (again!), I need to follow her plans for me. This week it is 40 minutes of cardio on my own, 4 days a week. If I'm short total minutes for the week, I can make them up on a rest day or have an extra long day.

Mon/Tue - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer
Thu/Fri - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Saturday and start the week with yoga on Sunday

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Breaking it Down - and Reporting In

Reporting in on last week . . . .
Sleep -1:30 still isn't working, I think I need to do an up ALL night again to get back on track.

DeClutter - The hall bath needs to be remodeled. We did go look at Lowe's and made the decision that we need help and will talk to a designer. I worked in my closet some. Ten more shirts gone.

Weight - I've got to pick a new "official" day to weight in. Husband went out of town on business and while I didn't get cookies like I normally would, I could have made better choices. Down .8

ARCs - Not only did I not review a book this week, I've received one and two more are on their way.

Reading Challenges - I returned a (late!) library book. Does that count? I started a non-fiction.

Blogging Challenges - My three a week is going but that's all I can say about my blogging.

Exercise - March's 5k was actually 3.1415 on the 14th. I did 3.15 on the treadmill. By Friday? Everything about going to the gym was irritating so Bethany told me to take Thursday off this week. I'm assuming I need to workout Saturday instead. I'm exercising too far above my "fat burning" zone and she doesn't want me to over train. It was way too weird taking Thursday off.

Sleep - goal for this week is 1:30 p.m., again. 

DeClutter - Let us not discuss the kitchen. The dining room and pantry are worse.

Weight - Need to pick a new weigh in day, I don't know how much it has changed since I started. Still working on fewer "cheat" food choices, and more water.

ARCs - Dang it! Read one of these and get a review up! . . . (yes, this is the same list)

• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - let's narrow this down also, pick one . . .

1. one non-fiction (started one, finish it)
2. one library book
3. finish one book this week

Blogging Challenges - April is coming and there is an A-Z blogging challenge coming up that I'd like to do again this year. April also has Day of Silence to plan around. For March, I'd like to post Purrsday every week (doing good!) and add Sunday

• Sunday - Goals wrap up and plans for the week
• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday

Exercise - One day with the trainer and four days on my own. If I'm going to meet my weight deadline without moving it back (again!), I need to follow her plans for me. This week it is 40 minutes of cardio on my own, 4 days a week. If I'm short total minutes for the week, I can make them up on a rest day or have an extra long day.

Mon/Tue - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer
Thu/Fri - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Saturday and start the week with yoga on Sunday

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Breaking it Down - and Reporting In

Reporting in on last week . . . .
Sleep -12:30 not working, neither is 1:30 p.m. so that's what I'm going to work on this week

DeClutter - 91-Day challenge tanked this week. I did donate several things but it is as a drop in the ocean compared to what needs to be done.

Weight - I had trouble with the scale, way up and then back down. Will try again after my cycle is through.

ARCs - choice of 50 Million narrowed down to two for this week. Did I do one? NO. I did start Echo Lake just not soon enough to count for this week.

Reading Challenges - let's narrow this down also, pick one . . . Yes. I finished a book this week AND it finished off a challenge :-)

Blogging Challenges - I should sit down to plan out April's letters. My unplugged for Day of Silence post is scheduled, I blogged about why I'd be silent here. So far so good with my three a week posts.

Exercise - This is not as easy as I thought it would be. My sleep is more messed up than usual and my blood sugar is dropping before I exercise. My Doc adjusted my meds. I signed up for FIVE races. Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Oct.

Sleep - goal for this week is 1:30 p.m., again. 

DeClutter - Bathrooms are next. We have a half bath downstairs and a hall bath upstairs. The hall bath will be remodeled soon.

Weight - I still have 22 pounds to go and a new date for a deadline. We have a swim party on Memorial Day every year. Eleven Weeks. This week I'll work on fewer "cheat" food choices, and more water.

ARCs - let's narrow the choices down and read/review one . . .

• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - let's narrow this down also, pick one . . .

1. one non-fiction
2. one library book
3. finish one book this week

Blogging Challenges - April is coming and there is an A-Z blogging challenge coming up that I'd like to do again this year. April also has Day of Silence to plan around. For March, I'd like to post Purrsday every week (doing good!) and add Sunday

• Sunday - Goals wrap up and plans for the week
• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday

Exercise - One day with the trainer and four days on my own. If I'm going to meet my weight deadline without moving it back (again!), I need to follow her plans for me. This week it is 40 minutes of cardio on my own, 4 days a week. If I'm short total minutes for the week, I can make them up on a rest day or have an extra long day.

Mon/Tue - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer
Thu/Fri - 40 min with a target heart range (104-120)
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Sunday and a mile on Saturday

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Breaking it Down - this week's goals

Sleep - already waking up before 1:30 p.m. so this week I'll move it ahead to 12:30 p.m. 

DeClutter - The bathroom and closet is next. I'll do the pictures but then I think I'll pull an Ostrich. ;-) The half-bath is such a smaller job . . .

Weight - I still have 22 pounds to go and a new date for a deadline. We have a swim party on Memorial Day every year. Eleven Weeks. This week I'll work on fewer "cheat" food choices, and more water.

ARCs - let's narrow the choices down and read/review one . . .

• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - let's narrow this down also, pick one . . .

1. one non-fiction
2. one library book
3. finish one book this week

Blogging Challenges - April is coming and there is an A-Z blogging challenge coming up that I'd like to do again this year. April also has Day of Silence to plan around. For March, I'd like to post Purrsday every week (doing good!) and add Sunday

• Sunday - Goals wrap up and plans for the week
• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday

Exercise - One day with the trainer and four days on my own. If I'm going to meet my weight deadline without moving it back (again!), I need to follow her plans for me. This week it is 40 minutes of cardio on my own. If I'm short total minutes for the week, I can make them up on a rest day or have an extra long day.

Mon/Tue - 40 min with a target heart range (don't remember what it was)
Wed - meet with Bethany, she'll put me through the ringer
Thu/Fri - 40 min with a target heart range (don't remember what it was)
I'd like to keep the streak going by getting 10 minutes on Sunday and a mile on Saturday

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Off Topic: Day of Silence

What is the Day of Silence?

The Day of Silence is a student-led national event that brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Students from middle school to college take a vow of silence in an effort to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior by illustrating the silencing effect of bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT.

(bullying starts so much younger, even if the kids don't understand the words, it still hurts - can we start this in elementary school?) I'm excited that students are doing this as much as I'm saddened that it is necessary. To make things worse, there is a place to ask for help if you are "experiencing resistance to your Day of Silence organizing or activities from your school administrators or faculty". What? The crazy things my kids told me about their friends doing at school and there may be a stink about this?! grrr

Anyways, this is mostly a re-post, only I remembered sooner in the year so maybe you can help your kids do something at their school. Most was posted in 2008 after the fact and again on this blog in 2010.

Bullied over being a cheerleader, 

12-year-old California boy commits suicide 

Boy's family had reported the bullying to school officials multiple times yet the email sent out by the school said, in part "... While do not know all of the circumstances...". Right. That word all just saved your ass.

This is by no means an isolated event. Have we taught our children to be so unbending that anyone who is different doesn't deserve to live? How can our thinking be so rigid? Just because someone is different then you doesn't make one of you better, it just makes you different from each other. Just because you don't agree on something, doesn't make one of you wrong!

GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) is now the host of programs for Day of Silence and has great some information. And as we are a social people generally, you can choose from facebook, twitter or tumbler. They'll even help, just print out a sign and fill in the blanks.

The next Day of Silence is April 17, 2015. No matter what your feeling/thoughts are about homosexuality/gender identity, murder is NEVER the answer.

I may not understand how someone could feel they were born into the wrong sex but that does not give me the right to make them feel worthless. If you don't understand something, read about it, ask questions, learn. Even if you still don't agree, it still doesn't make one of you wrong.

Of course, we don't have a problem with anything different. I must be talking about the other guys.

sigh

Sometimes, I think we are all "the other guy", even if just for a moment. The problem is that we never know when a quickly forgotten moment for one is someone else's last straw.

Sad to say but there will ALWAYS be someone/group that thinks it okay to bully/harass/beat-up/kill someone else - if only because they got looked at funny. Let us do our part to make them the minority. We all live here, let's make it a safe place.

Speaking of safe places...don't even get me started on foster care.... Did you know that teens feel so unsafe in foster care (from the kids AND parents) that they'd rather take their chances on the streets? . . . wait, deep breath. I don't have the time or calmness needed to discuss this right now. I just want to bring everyone home. And get them a cat. Or a dog.

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

A Favorite Seasonal Recipe - Cassie's Cranberry Salsa

My brother went to an RV park on vacation. He already had a space number so he parked his 5th wheel and walked up to the office to check in. By the time he got to the back of the park where he was parked, he had made five new friends and had two dinner invitations.

I thought the story was funny and was sharing it with other family. My daughter starts laughing and her boyfriend is going "she does that". Daughter is all "I make friends in the line at the grocery store" and my husband points to me and says "so does she!"

After that, you should understand when I say that I wanted to share a recipe with the waitress from dinner tonight. I gave her my blog address and told her I'd just post it figuring she wouldn't want to give me her email address.

The recipe may look familiar to some of you as I'm sure I posted it somewhere on here, I just didn't label it well. I also used it for the Christmas recipe exchange last year. Dang, I'll need a new recipe for this year.

My niece (not SIL) made this one year and it was fabulous. My husband has taken it to work functions and the foodie in the group raved. She served it at a party and loved watching everyone try to figure out what was in it. No one guessed the red was from cranberries, it isn't overly sweet and the jalapeño gives it a nice kick. It is super simple and no cooking! I've started grabbing a bag of cranberries as soon as they show up, just in case. And if . . . . "gosh darn, I've got to use these up before they go bad" happens, well, they're good.

I'm not a food blogger and the picture is crap. Plus cranberries aren't in season so I can't have a do-over.

recipe as I got it . . .
Cassie's Cranberry Salsa Chop and mix together:

1 package fresh cranberries

1/2 Jalapeño, without seeds
1/2 bunch green onion
2-4 tsp cilantro

Stir in:
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 cup sugar

Mix well and serve over Cream Cheese and eat with crackers.


My adjustments:
I've used a blender and food processor to chop stuff up. The blender needed a little water, my food processor didn't get small enough pieces. Now I have a NutribulletRx and I love it!

The salsa comes out the color of the cranberries so you'll want to make sure they're a nice red (my bag of old berries came out dark, I haven't tried frozen ones). I add more jalapeño, without seeds, skip the green onion and cilantro.

The NutribulletRx still needed a little water but that might be a layering problem. I just threw everything in (no more dicing peppers!) and ran it through a cycle. I'm going to go ahead and throw the green onion in next time and experiment with the layering. None of us like cilantro so that will still be left at the store.

Perfect.

My cracker of choice is Wheat Thins. I grab a second set of ingredients if I'm making this to take somewhere, just in case we eat the first batch.

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

I Have a Plan . . . . life goals for March

I've joined two non-reading challenges and have a goal deadline coming up so I've got to get off the computer and starting working!

1. #FitReaders
2. 91 Day DeClutter Challenge
3. 50 lbs by 50 years
4. several ARCs
5. even more reading challenges

I'm crossing my fingers that this will give me some accountability and motivation. If it works, I'll do an April plans/goals too. Wish me luck ;-)

March

Sleep - I'm getting enough sleep, just at the wrong time. Goal for March is working on getting up by 11:30 a.m. (April will be up by 8:30 a.m.). My current sleep is 5 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and it isn't as wonderful as it looks. It would be nice to be awake for church again, that's my May goal.

DeClutter - The challenge starts Monday with the Master bedroom. I've got several boxes that I need to consolidate so we can get a new mattress. After the mater bedroom, I'd do the hall bathroom and the library/guest room-to-be.

Weight - I still have 22 pounds to go and only eight weeks to get there! Plans include food tracking, healthy food choices, at least 20 minutes 5 days a week (bigger goal at end), and more water. I've already given up soda but my water consumption has decreased with the weather temps.

ARCs - I've got too many to list but these are the most recent . . .

• Before I Fall by Jessica Scott
• Win Friends and Customers Relationship and Business Success from Empathic Acknowledging by Lawrence J. Bookbinder Ph.D. - spotlight post
• Echo Lake by Carla Neggers - spotlight post
• The Bishop's Wife Mette Ivie Harrison - spotlight post 
• Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton - spotlight post
• The Sixteen by Ali B. - spotlight post

Reading Challenges - I've got over 30 reading challenges but one is over at the end of the month and I've read 71 out of 72 books for it! Gosh, would you look at that, I could read one of my ARCs and cross off TWO items!

1. one more title with a Y word to complete a challenge (by 3-31)
2. one title from the perpetual list
3. one non-fiction
4. one fantasy (from list)
5. one library book
6. one from my tbr pile
7. finish one book every week

Blogging Challenges -April is coming and there is an A-Z blogging challenge coming up that I'd like to do again this year. For March, I'd like to post Purrsday every week.

• Monday - Where are your reading? and Reading Monday
• Tueadsy - Teaser Tuesday and 1st Paragraph Intros
• Wednesday - Weigh-in Wednesdays
• Thursday - Cat Thursday and Purrsday
• Friday - #FitReaders

Exercise - Wish I'd made note of where I found it but . . . "Moderately active consists of walking 1.5 to 3 miles daily at a pace of 3 to 4 miles per hour (or the equivalent)." My March goal is 1.5 miles everyday at 3 mph plus weights 3 times a week. I've got the gym membership, just need to get back to using it!

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015

Guess what I'll be doing for the next 13 weeks?

Hosted at Mary Organizes
details here

I've run out of room for my books so not only do I need to weed my library, I need to reduce my belongings in general.

Wish me luck!

copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2015