And the winners are...

Lee wins a copy of
Cody McFadyen's latest book,
The Darker Side.
Congratulations, Lee!

and...

Booklogged (from A Reader's Journal)
wins a copy of
The Face of Death
(second in the series).

Congratulations, Booklogged!

Drop me an email with your mailing addresses and I'll get your books off to you in a couple of days. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Catching Up

Time to catch up.

First and foremost, thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers for my brother. He's doing very well. For those of you who didn't see my reply to the comments on my post, I'll give you the Cliffs Notes version. The surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor (which was benign). However, it encapsulated the auditory nerve, so Mark lost all hearing in his left ear. He's been home now for almost two weeks and is taking it easy. He's still a bit fatigued and has some balance issues, but he's cracking jokes and sounds very upbeat. It was great to be out with my family in San Diego. I think it's been close to 8-10 years since my last visit. I spent most of my time at the hospital, but I did manage to get a long walk in at the beach in Del Mar. I also managed to eat Mexican food at almost every meal. Love those fish tacos at Rubio's!

By the way, that blog entry about Mark's surgery received the most comments of all my posts. You all are such a caring group of people and I'm honored to know each and every one of you! Thank you.

Bellezza honored me with another award almost two months ago!


Thank you, dear friend, and shame on me for failing to pass on your kind gesture. I was so touched by all the comments posted about my brother (as well as all the virtual hugs on May 28th) that I would like to extend this Blogging Friends Forever award to each and every one of you.

Spring must be my lucky season. Not only did I get the BFF award, but I won this darling apron from Kristen's Dine and Dish blog. I've been reading Kristen's blog for quite some time (I've accumulated a huge stack of recipes to sample) and was so surprised to win the contest. I love the apron and will try to remember to have my hubby snap a picture next time I'm wearing it. Thanks again, Kristen! Your blog rocks!


The stormy weather has been unbelievable this past month. Not only did we have all those tornadoes I mentioned a week or so ago, but we had another big storm come through last Wednesday, just to the north of Lincoln. The sirens went off and we headed to the basement. I think there were four tornadoes that night. And early Sunday morning, one touched down in West Omaha. Crazy weather. I heard that Snoqualmie Pass got 7 inches of snow last night. In June! Go figure, eh?

I've been putting together a list for a new end cap at work and was so pleased with the numbers for my current display. Here's a picture of what's currently up:

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Here's a list of the books:

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg

Joy School by Elizabeth Berg

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

Wish You Well by David Baldacci

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Yellow Raft on Blue Water by Michael Dorris

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I've read Durable Goods, Joy School, Yellow Raft on Blue Water, The Secret Life of Bees and Some Things That Stay twice. It's been quite a while since I read Boy's Life, so maybe I'll add that to my towering stack of summer reading.

The best-selling of all of these books has been Fannie Flagg's Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. I think a lot of readers missed it when it was first published in 1992. It's such a fun read! Definitely another to re-read later this summer.

Stay cool and safe!

Bookreporter.com

Every weekend I receive an email of Bookreporter.com's newsletter. I can't remember when I first discovered this informative site, but over the years it's become a part of my weekly routine. I love to read about all the new book releases, occasionally enter a drawing for a basket of books & goodies (as if I really need more books!), read a few author interviews, and if time permits, I click over to Coming Soon: A List of Upcoming Books or Carol Fitzgerald's (Founder/President) entertaining blog. I can also check out the plethora of reading group guides or catch up on the latest author news. Books Into Movies is another useful feature, as is Author Bibliographies (great to keep track of those prolific mystery writers!) and Awards. I can easily spend an hour or two clicking my way around the site, adding more titles to my Amazon Wish List.

Hoping to try out a new Thanksgiving recipe, Carol asked her readers to submit a favorite recipe with a promise to send a book to a selected reader. How could I resist? I sent her my family's favorite potato casserole recipe and guess what? I won! I was stunned to read my name in the November 30th newsletter:

I realize that last week I failed to talk about the recipes that I selected from readers for the holiday. Confession: a neighbor joined us for the holiday at the last moment, pairing her feast with mine, so I had no holes in the menu. That said, I did select two recipes that I am going to try in the upcoming weeks. One is from Dena for an Eggnog Poundcake that sounds great for Christmas morning, and the other is from Lesley for a Potato Casserole. I will get a book out to each of them next week as a thank you. I also appreciate all the other recipes that were shared. I printed them out and will hold them in my "recipes from friends and family" file.

And true to her word, Carol sent not just one, but two fabulous books from my Amazon Wish List! I received a copy of Jennifer Donnelly's The Winter Rose (yahoo!!!) and Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs. What a wonderful, unexpected treat with which to kick off the New Year. Thank you, Carol (and Bookreporter.com), for your generosity!



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