Monthly Archives: December 2013

December 25, 2013 · 1:13 pm

What Did You Get for the Holiday?

What did you get for Christmas? Gifts? Books? Money? Love?

I got a lot of love from the doggies – the parakeets may have even sent some love my way either that or they just had a lot to discuss.
Did you get a tablet? If not check out the Kindle sale and use some Christmas cash. If you happen to have an extra, I wouldn’t mind being on your gift or re-gift list.

I really do want to know what your received, what you wished for and maybe what you didn’t get. I hope you have love for Christmas from animal companions and humans. Followed by a job (to pay living expenses), books and craft supplies and a maid service and someone to do all my (oops I mean your) chores around the house.

Amazon seems to tempt me and all I want to do is get a HDX and some E-books, and some books, gifts for the dogs, some books with more doggie related items ….. You get the idea.

I remember some of my requests for gifts in the past. Since my b-day is a few days after Christmas I would often get the larger priced items as a Combo-gift. At age 11ish I really wanted an aquarium. I searched everywhere and could find no aquarium sized gifts. I prepared myself to be disappointed. But my parents were wise to my sneaky snooping and hid the gift out of reach, maybe in the car trunk – I have never found out the hiding place.

I asked for a leaf blower that I still use to this day, mainly for lawn mowing detritus. The amount of leaves around my house is massive and can’t be blown away. Leaves must be bagged, last year I used about 24 55 gallon bags.

This year my gift is wonderful. I have received love and support from my family. Canine family, family-family and chosen family of friends. Best Gift Ever.

Lately this has been a TEMPTATION like no other. And with Prime, which I do have, I could watch movies for free, listen to books, read books and shop – oops there you go with the temptation again.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BWYQ9YE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00BWYQ9YE&linkCode=as2&tag=thewrilifforr-20">Kindle Fire HDX 7", HDX Display, Wi-Fi, 16 GB - Includes Special Offers</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thewrilifforr-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00BWYQ9YE" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

Here are the tempting facts. I need to find a new word, maybe: enticing, appetizing, seductive (Seductive is an apt word choice), attractive or tantalizing.

This is not a shameless plug – I really do Want, Desire and Lust after one of these tablets.

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How it Works: To get started, click on the button below. Add any eligible Kindle Fire HDX or Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″ tablet to your cart. At checkout, we’ll charge 25% of the device price, plus any applicable tax and shipping charges in full. The remaining balance will be automatically billed to your credit card in three equal installments every 90 days. This offer is limited to one Kindle Fire HDX per customer.

Am I being materialistic? I hope not though I think I have a touch of avarice. Shame on me.

And this is the problem with online shopping – for me anyway. So many items at my fingertips. I have an upcoming post on how to avoid impulse buys online – and I am suppressing the impulse and temptation and avarice and tantalizing offers, so far anyway.

I could never take a job in a bookstore, or pet store or craft store. I would never bring home a paycheck, just employee discounted goodies.

Now it is time to enjoy the rest of 2013 and prepare for a blessed 2014.

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Blog Posts I Recommend

Happy Holidays. Below are some marvelous, enjoyable, astounding and thought-provoking posts from blogs I follow. Enjoy!

Three Little Pugs is a sweet blog. Stella Rose usually gives us her insight as the senior pug. We learn that “we are hosting a Dating Game Contest….Would you like to win a date with Maggie to go to the Bash….anyone can enter, dogs, cats, pigs, ….the only EXCEPTION is the evil elf Chrissy, she is not allowed to enter our contest cos we dislikes hers a lot.” and learn about Gussied Up for Visitors. Stop by and visit Stella Rose, Margaret Mae, Angus McConnell and their Momma and learn why Stella Rose is Worried. I just enjoy the posts and you will too!

Interesting Literature brings readers the earliest known film version of A Christmas Carol in a incomplete but restored version from 1900/1901 of Scrooge or Marley’s Ghost. I have to say for 1900/1901 the special effects are pretty phenomenal (you may not think so compared to today but this is film in infancy). This now ties with MY Favorite Christmas Carol Film: Scrooge. (info below) Interesting Literature also offers Twelve Facts from Interesting Literature including why Winnie the Pooh and Green Eggs and Ham have been banned.

Through A Peacock’s Eyes Julianne share her Tarotscope predictions for 2014. She is amazingly accurate, have a look.

The Ghost of Christmas Present: There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you’re not here any more.

A Small Press Life brings a post entitled Book Nerds Links featuring new art for a new publication of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I must say the art serves as a perfect description for the book. And yet another marvelous post Daily Diversion #181 on The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum.

Students and Birds has a post about a Parrott and Family In Need. They are thinking of the welfare of a parrot in need of medical care and the family that loves their animal companion. I always advocate looking to animal welfare so if you can help, please do and Kudos to Students and Birds for caring and sharing.

Alarmingman has beautiful haiku poetry. I have so many favorites, I recommend just dropping by.

Books and Bassets posted about a non fiction book called Courage Has No Color. Her blog is about Childrens & YA lit with some Bassets thrown in. Readers can find excellent reading material for the young and for the not young. Exposing us to this non fiction is a beautiful addition.

Stop by A Mixed Bag for some wonderful photography.

Visit Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny for a wonderful Christmas Countdown of some animal companions.

Scrooge starring Albert Finney and Alec Guiness.

I am not going to give the official online summaries. I say this is a beautiful musical adaption. Released in 1970, when I first say the movie as a young teen I wondered how they made Scrooge look young again. This is a credit to how masterfully Albert Finney plays the role as well as the makeup artist. Alec Guiness is a a fantastic Marley.

Quotes from the screenplay:

Ebenezer Scrooge: Why do you walk the earth? Why’d you come to persecute me? And what is that great chain you wear?

the Ghost of Jacob Marley: I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it, link by link and yard by yard, while on Earth, and now I will never be rid of it, any more than you will ever be rid of yours!

Guiness quoted this line so perfectly that to this day I take him seriously, I don’t think the words are hokey or trite, when I read them I do feel they are a bit schmaltzy but not in the telling in this movie.

The musical Scrooge is from a stage play. While the songs are still wonderful, having seen and heard the music in the 1970 movie I prefer the movie. The book offers all the music even the songs that did not make the cut in the film version.

From the song at the end of the movie the most excellent lines:

Ebenezer Scrooge: I will start anew/I will make amends/and I will make quite certain/that the story ends/on a note of hope/on a strong amen/and I’ll thank the world/and remember when/I was able to begin again!

If you are brave enough to read my post and watch the video featured in my I Love Dogs and Animals blog, then the lines above are a wonderful mantra to a Resolution to Be Humane.

I will start anew/I will make amends/and I will make quite certain/that the story ends/on a note of hope/on a strong amen/and I’ll thank the world/and remember when/I was able to begin again!

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December 21, 2013 · 7:51 pm

A Christmas Gift

A Christmas Gift for Readers and Nerds Like Me. Open Courseware!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I have a gift for you my friends. FREE online course work is available from several universities.

Here is the link to MIT. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/index.htm The OCW stands for Open Courseware. For my friends that are strictly readers the Literature courses link is here.

Tufts University. Tufts OCW (and most all OCW)

· Publishes Tufts course materials.

· Does not require any registration.

· Does not grant credit, degrees, or certificates.

· Does not provide access to Tufts faculty; however feedback is shared.

I say who cares I don’t get credit – I get to learn! How cool is that? Tres, tres cool!

Utah State University.

Washington State proudly declared in November 2011 their open library hit 10,000 visitors in 11 days. Washington’s State Board for Community and Technical Colleges SBCTC manages OpenCourseLibrary.org

The Open Courseware Consortium: What is OpenCourseWare? OpenCourseWare is the name given to open educational resources that are presented in course format, often including course planning materials, such as syllabi and course calendars, along with thematic content, such as textbooks, lectures, presentations, notes and simulations. Open Educational Resources are materials developed by experienced educators that are available for use, repurposing, and modification (including translation), in whole or in part, by everyone, everywhere in the world.

What is Open Education? Open Education is, at its core, about free and open sharing. Free, meaning no cost, and open, which refers to the use of legal tools (open licenses) that give everyone permission to reuse and modify educational resources. Free and open sharing increases access to education and knowledge for anyone, anywhere, anytime. It allows people to make changes to materials or to combine resources in new ways to build something new. Open Education incorporates free and open learning communities, educational networks, teaching and learning materials, open textbooks, open data, open scholarship, and on and on. Open Education gives people access to knowledge, provides platforms for sharing, enables innovation, and connects communities of learners and educators around the world.

Enjoy!

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December 20, 2013 · 3:40 am

Happy Holidays Saturday Steals!

Happy Holidays my friends! I hope Christmas brings you together with friends and family.

If the joy of sharing with loved ones isn’t an option, do not fret, stress or get depressed. I have spent Christmas alone with my wonderful dogs for about 20 years. I have my own traditions. I love watching A Christmas Story over and over. On good years the doggies get toys to open, in lean years they still get and give love. And I usually wash old toys and present them as new. Please be animal friendly and no fur, please.

I have some last-minute Steals for Everyone.

Simon & Schuster has a FREE E-book.

Wonderful books and magazines from

CRICKET: Check
out great gifts under $15, and save an extra 15% when you use code NE846D.

Dover Publications.

And Amazon will come to the rescue! Beginning on December 18, 2013, at 12:00 a.m. PST, select products are available with FREE One-Day Shipping within the continental U.S. when purchased from Amazon.com. Simply add a qualifying product to your Shopping Cart and select One-Day Shipping before completing an order. The shipping discount will be applied at checkout. See product detail page for expiration date of offer. See Terms & Conditions.

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Coming Soon – Pre Order Books Available 12/23 and 12/30

I might have missed a week – did I? In the scurry of Christmas and craft shows and job search I have lost rack. But I have some fantabulous books you will want to Pre Order!

Most are available as E-books for Christmas. Or my birthday is the 30th …. 🙂

A large portion of the books being released the week of the 23rd are ‘diet’ books and some cookbooks. Since I recommend books I can only recommend one and this is available 12/17/13.

The Best of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
by Deborah Madison with Contributors. Available 12/17/13.
See below for more upcoming releases.

Right now I recommend, though not new releases, the following books from PETA.

Start 2014 off by making an ethical choice or just because vegetarian is a healthy lifestyle.

Vegan Eats World The Compassionate Cook Making Kind Choices

http://www.petacatalog.com/booksdvds/veganeatsworld/

New from the Who Was Series available 12/26/13. The Nelson Mandela book has been released early as an E-book. The paperback will be available 1/9/14.

The Who Was Series is wonderful and targeted for Grades 3 to 7.

Get Started: Crochet by Susie Johns. Available December 23, 2013.

Get Started: Crochet teaches beginners basic stitches and shows how to start crocheting with 20 easy projects, including hats, blankets, and baby clothes.

Perfect for beginners who want to learn a new craft, DK’s Get Started: Crochet takes a “do and learn” approach by starting simple and building new skills, using photographed techniques to help people learn step-by-step.

I love to crochet and perhaps this book will serve as an introduction to an enjoyable craft.

For nerds like me, an immense 2 volume non-fiction.

Papers, Literary, Scientific, Etc. (Cambridge Library Collection – Technology) (Volume 1) and Papers, Literary, Scientific, Etc. (Cambridge Library Collection – Technology) (Volume 2) by Fleeming Jenkin, Sidney Colvin (editor). Available December 28, 2013.

An electrical engineer, university teacher and wide-ranging writer, Fleeming Jenkin (1833-85) filed thirty-five British patents in the course of his career. Edited by Sidney Colvin (1845-1927) and J. A. Ewing (1855-1935) and first published in 1887, this two-volume work brings together a selection of Jenkin’s varied and engaging papers. The collection ranges from notes on his voyages as a marine telegraph engineer, to a critical review of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, essays on literature, and thoughts on technical education. A memoir written by Robert Louis Stevenson, his former student, provides biographical context and attests to Jenkin’s many interests and talents across the arts and sciences. Volume 1 begins with Stevenson’s memoir, incorporating Jenkin’s records of his voyages. This is followed by writings on literature and drama. Three pieces on scientific subjects, including the review of Darwin, conclude the volume.

And for the even dorkier people like me here is something already released that you may love.

Papers, Literary, Scientific, etc. This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts – the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

Chasing God by Angie Smith. Kindle edition available now. Hardcover Available January 1, 2014.

Maybe you’ve never asked the question out loud, but you’ve wondered. You do the things that look good on paper: read your Bible, pray, attend study groups and go to church on Sundays.

But you aren’t convinced you really know Him. Angie Smith understands, because she had run circles around the same paths searching for Him, frustrated at her lack of progress.

And she probably would have continued to do so had it not been for one realization that changed everything.

She wasn’t following God; she was trying to catch up with Him.

And without realizing it, you may be as well.

It’s a distinction that affects every aspect of our lives with Christ, and it begins with learning where we’ve relied more on man’s explanation of God than God Himself.

So many requirements, so many rules, and so much guilt where there is supposed to be freedom. It’s the reason you wonder if you’ve measured up, and the nagging voice that tells you you’re a failure as a Christian.

Three simple words changed everything for Angie, and she believes they can do the same for you.

Stop chasing God.

Happy Holidays my friends!

Saturday Steals. Get Shopping!

Happy Holidays! As Christmas Draws Near it is time you get serious about finding those gifts. You can always give the gift of books. Whether choosing an author you know your friend loves, selecting a book you love to share or a gift certificate – get shopping.

I have found Classics, Children’s Books, Favorite Movies and more.
Bell Bridge Books event Vampires in America 7 days of giveaways. Vampire fans you have a chance to win books and more starting Friday 12/13/13.Give Away!

Classics. You can never go wrong with a classic and I have found some Steals. Kindle E-books for $0.99. A Steal.

Children’s Books. You know I love Dover Publications. I have a Steal. Check out the other marvelous Christmas books for young and old..

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck. A Treasure!
Rob wants to get his father something special for Christmas this year — something that shows how much he really loves him. But it’s Christmas Eve, and he doesn’t have much money to spend. What could he possibly get? Suddenly, Rob thinks of the best gift of all…
Author of nearly a hundred books for children and adults, and winner of both the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes, Pearl S. Buck has captured the spirit of Christmas in this elegant, heartwarming story about a boy’s gift of love. Originally published in 1955, this classic story is now being issued, for the first time ever, as a picture book with glorious full-color art by acclaimed artist Mark Buehner. A welcome addition to everyone’s holiday collection, this timeless treasure will bring the true meaning of Christmas to the entire family for generations to come.

MOVIE Classics! My Seasonal Favorites.

You can’t go wrong with a gift card from Amazon either.

Check out the Christmas Wallpaper for your computer below. Happy Holidays!

Favorite photos I found of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

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December 11, 2013 · 5:59 pm

Sisterhood of the World of Bloggers Nomination!

I was nominated for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers. Thank you to the fantastic and beautiful Cleopatra Loves Books. She has included me in her nomination for this award. Please visit her page to learn more about Cleopatra & the award.

Sisterhood of the World of Bloggers

All recipients need to thank the giver Post 7 things about yourself Pass the award on to 7 other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated. Include the logo of the award in a post or on your blog

All recipients need to thank the giver.

Thank you CLEOPATRA LOVES BOOKS!

7 Things About Me:

1. I LOVE Dogs. They are my family. http://lovedogsandanimals.com/

2. I am Not clumsy. I am accident prone. I am vertically challenged. I am bruise prone. If there is nothing to trip over, I will still trip. 🙂

3. I love to read. And I write. I have had non-fiction articles published and some fiction in the Purple Prose Parody Contest at All About Romance website. This was Quite a while ago. I am working on a self published book of shorts along this vein.

4. I love to create and Craft. I think handmade shows thought, care and affection.

I have a craft blog. http://somanycraft.blogspot.com/

5. I think horizontally and am uniquely organized Years ago Gary Larson had a FarSide cartoon entitled Datalanche – that is me. 🙂 This works best for me – when I “organize” in a traditional way, I am disorganized. This is most evident in my craft making.