So, while I am trying to be sleepy enough to go to sleep and stay there until 6 a.m., I’ve added two sub-pages for my pleasure. Maybe you will enjoy as well.

First – Crafty Moose: I want to track the amount of knitting I do in 2012, and this seems like a good way to do it. So far this year I have completed several hats and two scarves. On the needles I have another hat and a gift for one of my friends whose birthday is next week.

Second – Moose Browse: the names of books I have read in 2012. I read a lot . . . but I would like to slog my way through (and pass on) the huge pile of books collecting dust. So I am challenging myself to read – and list the books. So far, 4 for the year and I am reading a 5th.

Next week I am taking annual leave to celebrate my birthday. I hope to sleep in at least on Monday (best laid plans and that). I really should clean my house (nahhhhhh) one day. On Wednesday I am volunteering for Homeless Connect (where I will donate the hats I’ve made). The rest of the time? Yarn and books are crying out my name. I intend to answer.

So, go on over there to the right and click on the two new sub-pages and let me know your fave books or knits. Enjoy with me.

I have been writing a column for 451 Press since March – Knitting Passion. It’s about knitting or yarn or yarn shops or crochet – whatever strikes my fancy. I get paid a portion of ad revenue – but I do it mostly because I enjoy writing – and I enjoy knitting.

I’ve just been invited to do a second column/blog for them – Diabetes Health Talk.

I’m not a diabetic, but Mr. Moose is. And, I have been given his permission to talk about the disease and what it has done in our lives. Of course, I will be trying not to embarrass him – but that may not be totally possible.

Anyway – drop by when you get a chance and post a comment from time to time. If you have any suggestions about what you would like to see in the column, let me know that, too.

In the meantime – today is Sunday and I have just witnessed one of Ladybug’s younguns being baptized at their church.  D-Man, I am praying for you and will keep you before the Lord’s throne that you might grow into one of His men.

Love you, buddy!

I am cleaning out the book stash – and it pains me greatly to do so. I LOVE books, love to read, wish I had more time – or the ability to stay awake longer – to read. Or, in this case, to read these titles again.

But I do not, and I cannot, so I am coming to you all with a proposition.

I live in Alaska – I make my own fun. Yes, indeedy.

The first five – non-family member- folks who post a comment to this post may take their pick of one of the following titles by Alaskan authors. I will be happy to slip the book into the mail to you come Monday. How’s that for a cool deal from a cool purple moose?

I’ve linked the books to their Amazon counterpart so you can make an informed decision on which you might like.

One to a customer, please – and please leave your choice in your comment. I will email you – so make sure you leave a good, working, email address – so that we can exchange mailing addresses.

On your mark – get set – CHOOSE!

:moose:

Death Takes Passage, by Sue Henry - A Jessie Arnold Mystery (c) 1997

The Music of What Happens by John Straley – A Cecil Younger Mystery (c) 1996

Dead Stick by Megan Mallory Rust – A Taylor Morgan, pilot mystery (c) 1998

and, just because I have way more of her books – AND – because I know some of you really enjoy reading her – here are TWO books by Dana Stabenow:

A Cold Day for Murder – a Kate Shugak mystery (c) 1992

Fire and Ice – a Liam Campbell mystery (c) 1998
 

There are nineteen more titles where these came from – so I will likely do this again. It depends on how this go around works. There is just no more room in my (junk) catch-all room so it is time to clear some out. I am not giving up the autographed copies that I have, however. Sorry ’bout that. The family will likely inherit those someday. Yup, I’ve been blessed to have met Dana, John and Sue. Dana and John attended writers group functions and we treated them to dinner before their speaking engagements. I met Sue at the Writers Conference in 2003.

by the way – Lessa and I are attending this year’s Kachemak Bay Writers Conference next weekend. We leave Friday and return Tuesday. Amy Tan is the keynote speaker this year. Woo-hoo!

Okay – enough from me – enter comment zone. 

The coworker who brought in the book said she didn’t like it as well (if at all) as Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis.

but . . .

you know me – all eclectic and that . . . I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In other news – this is the chair I’d like for my “reading corner” if I had such a thing (I read ALL OVER the house!). And, now I can’t remember whose site I saw it on – sorry, but if you read this just let me know and I will give you the credit for showing it off first.

In other news . . .

tomorrow is my annual evaluation with my boss – at 11 a.m. – and, for the first time in five years, I’m not even worried. Hmmm, that might not be a good thing – but I seriously don’t think I will get a bad review – and, it’s not like I’ll get a raise out of it or anything. We are a non-profit and IF we get a raise, it is because the budget can stand it and they are not on a pay freeze.

I received a COLA last year and the year before. At the first pay period of the month following my hire date – which means the first pay in August – if we aren’t on a COLA freeze, I should get one.

that would be nice – of course, since we are on a fiscal year, it is all wrapped up into the budget and such – and who knows, I may be bumped back down to 30 hours or less again. Hope not. We’ll see.

Nope, still not worried – haven’t talked myself into it, yet. Think I’ll quit while I’m ahead. Thanks to everyone who peeked in on me via webcam yesterday. I hope you didn’t see me eating that sloppy (VERY sloppy) tuna sandwich. Mercy! That would be embarrassing.

heh :moose:

Sweetwater Creek Anne Rivers Siddons (finished 2/16/07)

 Meet Emily, a lonely girl who trains Boykin Spaniels by thinking to them – feel her joy in her companion, Elvis; her loss of a beloved brother; her painful separation from family; her joy comes slowly in her growing up. A good, thoughtful read.

Rush Home Road  by Lori Larsens (finished 2/12/07)

Sharla Cody is abandoned – left to be cared for by an aging “Mum-Addy”. The story is full of two people who learn to love and to let go of past heartaches in that learning.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (finished 2/18/07)

Could you give your child away? Could you send your child to the asylum? The year is 1964. A doctor is forced to deliver his own (unexpected) twins. . . .

The story will clutch your heart and pull you into its grip. A MUST read!

I have just begun to read Teacher Man: a Memoir by Frank McCourt. I greatly enjoyed his first two books, Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis and figure I will finish this book by the end of the week. After that? Well, I have some trashy paperbacks waiting for me. They will have to do until my boss  brings in another tote full of books, or until some of my coworkers finish the ones they took home and bring them back like I have been doing.

Sigh – yes, I will even list the trashy books I read here. I am an eclectic reader and you might as well know that – as well as how far my eclecticism goes (is that even a word?).

In other news – the geneology bug seems to have bitten me. Now that I have one aunt living on my mother’s side and one aunt living on my father’s side – NOW I get bitten by the bug – NOW when the answers are much harder to come by – NOW!!!!

humpf! You all KNOW just how much I need one more thing to occupy my time, right?

it started when I went to the library to meet with the knitting group – see, electic, I tell you. More to follow.

(p.s. my desktop computer is still fritzing out on me – Lessa and I are making a trip to the big city this weekend – may come home with some new hardware. Yay!  Well, we will see if my dislike of spending money on myself wins out over my NEED to be online!)