Please Be Kind, Rewind: 19 October – 15 November 2014 November 15, 2014

It’s been a long while and I apologise. Just when I was ready to get back in the thick of things after taking a bit of time away from blogging to focus on a summer of fun with my kiddos, the news breaks of a certain author stalking a fellow blogger. Well, needless to say it left a bitter taste in my mouth and killed my returning enthusiasm to jump back in the blogging life. My first priority is the safety of my family. We like our privacy which is why I don’t post pictures of my kiddos or use their real names around here or on Twitter. My Instagram is private and I even use their nicknames their. An author showing up on a blogger’s doorstep is a terrifying thought. It really made me think about giving it up. I was out of the habit and it would be easy to walk away. I don’t post negative reviews, but there was part of me that thought better safe than sorry. You know? But after much consideration, I’ve decided to stick with it. Cautiously, mind you, but stick with it.

I didn’t get everything read that I wanted before YALLFest, but I got the main things read. There’s time for the rest! As for YALLFest, I had a BLAST and hope I get to go again next year. I have some books by YALLFest authors that I’m planning to giveaway. The downside is, they aren’t signed, but HEY! Free books! I haven’t decided when I’m going to have the giveaway, but keep an eye out!

I’ve also taken up crocheting. I’ve wanted to learn for quite a while, and as a birthday treat to myself, I bought some hooks & yarn and set to it! If you check out Whimsical Mama Designs on Facebook, you can see a few things I’ve made so far that are for sale! I have several more things to add to the album. I’ve fallen quite in love with it. A nice way to relax and be productive at the same time! (: The kiddos love picking out new hats on Pinterest for mommy to make. Santa’s elf is quite busy! (; If you check it out and you see something you’d like, let me know! I’d be happy to work with you. (:

Since I went to YALLFest, I didn’t do NaNo this year. I also have lots of research to do for my next WIP. If you see my list of library books at the end, it’s not hard to guess the setting! I’m very excited about it as it’s an idea I’ve held dear for a quite a while and want to sit down and write. Other than that, I’m staying mum!

Punk & Bug are getting super excited about the holidays and it’s making me excited too. I love seeing their excitement! We watch the reindeer on ReindeerCam.com. Punk wants to know all the things about reindeer now.

Thank you to all the readers who have been checking back diligently to see if a new post has come up! You are a huge part of why I have decided to stick with it. I’ve also decided to post the backdated things I have typed up but took down from the schedule. Reviews and such have been adjusted so they’ll be going up starting tomorrow. (Hopefully, if I don’t get caught up working on the scarf I’m crocheting!)

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Completed:
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J Maas

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J Maas

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) by Laini Taylor

Night of Cake & Puppets (Kindle Single) (Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy) by Laini Taylor

 

 

Currently Reading:

Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) by Laini Taylor

Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles) by Lauren DeStefano

 

Read with the Kiddos:
The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry by Peter Sis

Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana (My First I Can Read)  by James Dean

 

New to My Shelf:
Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles) by Lauren DeStefano

The Winner’s Crime (The Winner’s Trilogy)by Marie Rutkoski

In the Shadows by Kiersten White & Jim di Bartolo

White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements) by Jennifer Armentrout

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass)by Sarah J Maas

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass) by Sarah J Maas

The Maze Runner Series (Maze Runner)by James Dashner

Prodigy: A Legend Novel by Marie Lu

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor & Jim di Bartolo

 

From the Library:
The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry by Peter Sis

The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, Day by Elie Wiesel

The Box from Braunau: In Search of My Father’s War

Ladybug Girl and the Dress-up Dilemma by Jacky Davis & David Soman

Meet the Adelies (Happy Feet)

Biscuit Loves the Library (My First I Can Read)

The Greedy Python (The World of Eric Carle) by Eric Carle

The Pigeon Needs a Bath!

Splat the Cat: Good Night, Sleep Tight (I Can Read Book 1)

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle

Big Bear, Little Bear (Disney/Pixar Brave) (Step into Reading)

When the War Never Ends: The Voices of Military Members with PTSD and Their Families

Binding Their Wounds: America’s Assault on Its Veterans

The Buchenwald Report

My Father’s Secret War

Flight of the Reindeer: The True Story of Santa Claus and His Christmas Mission

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World War II

 

Top Ten Tuesday #30: Favourite Children’s Books (Punk & Bug strike again!) March 11, 2014

Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Favourite Children’s Books (Punk and Bug style!)

Punk and Bug decided today would be a good day to take over on The Whimsical Mama and tell you about their favourite books! They also have decided to tell you about a new feature they’ve been helping mama create. Coming soon is an exciting feature we’re currently calling Tot Time Thursday. We’ll be doing little reviews of books that we read. We already have a few ARCs lined up as well as some of our favourites! We hope you will enjoy it! We haven’t decided how frequently this feature will pop up, but probably every other week or so. And now for our favourite books!

 

Pete the Cat (ALL of them) by James Dean

 

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle and Bill Martin, Jr

 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr

 

Spot Goes to the Library by Eric Hill

 

Ladybug Girl (ALL of them, Bug’s favourite!) by David Soman and Jacky Davis

 

Llama Llama Nighty Night by Anna Dewdney

 

How Do Dinosaurs… ? (ALL of them!) by Jane Yolen

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

 

Go, Dog. Go! by PD Eastman

What are your favourite children’s books? Are any of ours on your lists? Leave your link and mama will come visit your page! What do you think of our new feature idea?

Top Ten Tuesday #23: Books Santa Can Bring Me (Punk and Bug strike again!) December 24, 2013

Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Books Santa Can Bring Me (Please, oh please!)

I’ve been good this year, Santa. Please be kind! (:

1.Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth

2.Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

3.My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century & A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris

4.Revenants trilogy by Amy Plum

5.Everneath trilogy by Brodi Ashton

6.Legend trilogy by Marie Lu

7.Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

8.Shadowhunter’s Codex by Cassandra Clare & Joshua Lewis

9.Harry Potter by JK Rowling (the new paperback set, please!)

10.Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Top Ten Books Santa Can Bring Us (Punk and Bug style)

We’ve been good Santa! We promise!

1.Pete the CatSaves Christmas by James Dean & Eric Litwin

2.Ladybug Girl Loves…. by David Soman & Jacky Davis

3.If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Joffee Numeroff & Felicia Bond

4.That’s Not My Princess by Fiona Watt

5.The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

6.The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

7.Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle

8.Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss

9.Polar: The Titanic Bear by Daisy Corning Stone Spedden

10.Maisy Goes to the Museum: A Maisy First Experience Book by Lucy Cousins

What books do you want Santa to bring you tonight? Let me know! Do you have little ones? Anything on Punk and Bug’s list on theirs? (:

Weekly Reading Review #4 August 3, 2013

27 July 2013 through 3 August 2013

This has been a light reading week for me. We were getting ready for my hubby’s three week long military training so there was lots of house straightening and laundry to be done. Our kitchen still isn’t finished, but everything has now been moved back into the kitchen. This week also brought about a big decision that I wanted to be serious about this review blog. I’m not coming into it thinking I will make any money, just that I genuinely want to help spread the word about great books (and occasionally a recipe or craft tidbit too!) And since I have decided to be serious about it, I joined NetGalley and Edelweiss to request ARC/DRC books. I’m new to this and hope that I will be able to look forward to some good reads! I’ve already been approved for two books by the publishers, and two others the publisher had available to download directly without approval. I’m excited to jump into them! Keep an eye out for their reviews! On that note, here’s this week’s wrap up!

Completed:
Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Read to the kiddos:
A Swim Through the Sea by Kristin Joy Pratt, 4 stars. This book was fantastic! My son is OBSESSED with Nemo and when I saw a clownfish on the front while we were at the library, I knew it must be borrowed. The drawings, which were done by the artist at 16, were spectacular! I also loved that this was an ABC book which we are currently starting to work on.
Elmo Says… by Sarah Albee, 3 stars
Good Night, Magic Fireflies by Erica Maese, 3 stars
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, 4 stars
How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms? by Jane Yolen, 3 stars
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, 4 stars.
Whose Nose Is this? A Look at Beaks, Snouts, and Trunks by Peg Hall, 3 stars
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, 4 stars. We have a Very Hungry Caterpillar crawl here in our city, and I thought I might take the kiddos around on it after we read it. Naps have been taken and I’m almost caught up on what I need to do today, so as long as the weather hold I believe we’ll go!

Currently Reading:
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Reached by Ally Condie
What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff
A Million Suns by Beth Revis, I believe I’ll be restarting this since I’m only about 40 pages in and haven’t read any in about a week.

New to my shelf:
DRC of I, Saul by Jerry B. Jenkins and James MacDonald via Worthy Publishing
DRC of In Defense of the Queen by Michelle Diener via Season Publishing
DRC of Into the Dark #1 Shadow Prince by Bree Despain via EgmontUSA
DRC of White Space by Ilsa Black via EgmontUSA