Evening Edition! Free Kindle Pre-Order!

I had a great day today! Busy busy busy, and it took much longer than I thought it would ,but I decided that running all my errands today, instead of doing half today and half on my way out of town tomorrow was preferable!

My packing for the cruise has commenced! I am SO excited about the “little black dress” that I bought in Minnesota while thrift shopping with mom, Auntie Joy and Cousin Janean --- I NEVER dress up! Well hardly ever any more. I was trying to think of the last time that I actually wore HEELS – and I can’t. Do I need to practice with them? Are my feet going to rebel?

Do women even WEAR pantyhose anymore?! I’m opting for some strappy black sandals to go with the dress and calling it good, even if I’m not very tan…

I’ve pulled out the fresh water pearl set that DH gave me many years ago for Christmas. Gosh, I think I’ve only worn those a couple of times….I’m just a shorts and tee shirt girl! And that’s what I’ll be for most of the cruise. If we are running around in class…what’s to dress fancy for? It’s all about comfort, right?

But there is ONE fancy night. And I’m going all out! Just wait til you see this dress!

So today….I did a “Pamper Me” ! Time for my Cruise Toes!

Aren’t these fun?! I think pedicures are my biggest pamper delight. And since I’ve been getting them…no ingrown toe nails! So..I’m calling it a medical necessity ;c)

So with all this planning to dress up coming into play…..where does this free book pre order come in??

For a limited time, the first book in New York Times bestselling author Anna Godbersen’s epic new series Bright Young Things is available as a free pre-order today from the Amazon Kindle store---which means if you place your pre-order today, Amazon will deliver it to your Kindle (for free) on its release date of September 6. It also includes an excerpt from the forthcoming sequel Beautiful Days and fashion tips on how to achieve the perfect flapper look.

((Not that I am dressing like a flapper….but wouldn’t that have been fun in the day?!))

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star. . . .

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is ¬Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the ¬illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

I’m not sure how long the free pre-order will be available, but double check to be it’s still free when you purchase it.

And with that..I’m off to finish packing!

Where is my PASSPORT?!?

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Remember that Sun Room?

It’s been at a standstill for a while….we’ve been traveling and busy, but it is coming along!

And I feel almost guilty that I have really not done much of the work on this one. I didn’t even lift a paint brush ---

It all seemed to miraculously paint itself! No---I take that back. It happened one weekend when Lisa was over and we were working hard in the basement, and DH was working hard upstairs.

I remembered hearing shuffling, pounding, shuffling, sliding-- a strange sequence of noises….and the next thing I knew?

I was upstairs and the walls were painted and the carpet was gone!

Boy..was THIS a huge improvement!

And last night…low and behold ((or should that be LOWES and BEHOLD?!?)) We had light! And a ceiling fan!

The other evening we made a trip to Lowes to find the fan. Who knew that finding the right fan would be so hard! It just needed to be a FAN, you know? But we settled on this one because even though I like the pendant style lights, the one dish kind…they just don’t down shoot as much light as these ones with 3 bulbs in 3 shades do.

This is the doorway heading into the dining room….all that remains now is FLOORING!!!

I wandered through the flooring department….what will it be? Laminate? If so, I want to put the same laminate in the dining room as well as the kitchen, the 3 rooms connect to each other and I’d like some kind of “flow” there. Try explaining to a man why we don’t necessarily want each room to have different flooring when the rooms are small!!

And then I see THIS display!

HEXAGONS!!

Okay, I know the hexagons are samples only, but think with me here….what fun could we have if the base was velcro, and we could rearrange hexagon carpet tiles to make our floor whatever pattern we want it to be that day? LOL!!

Well, a Quilty Girl CAN dream, can’t she??

And I’m still watching updates on Hurricane Irene. She’s gonna be dancing in my kitchen! But I haven’t heard anything on any cruise changes yet. Things are still on schedule as far as I know.

I’m declaring today a Girly Day! I’ve been working so hard in the basement, it’s time to break loose! On today’s list:

Lunch with Lisa! Meeting up at Sew Original in Winston Salem at Noon-ish!

Pedicure! ((Necessary cruise attire, don’tcha know?!))

Eyebrows Waxed! ((Well, okay, and can you please remove that one long curly hair that keeps growing out of the mole on my neck? What is WITH that?!?))

Last minute shopping --- I swear, I was trying to pack light. DO I need a new swimsuit? Why did I put off really shopping and thinking about it until I have one day left before my journey starts?

I might throw a carwash in there too…can’t have Lori seeing Shamu all in a mess. But then, if it rains, what does it matter? ((I’m thinking a vacuum job inside might be enough!))

And then, maybe then….I’ll sew!

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Evening Edition! Free Kindle Book!

Wow..I’m finding so much cool stuff that I don’t know how I’ll get a chance to read it all! Seriously. I think I’ve become a book COLLECTOR! So many I want to read, and it’s nice to know that since I did “purchase” these freebies, they’ll stay on my bookshelf on Amazon. Forever. Supposedly anyway!

No, I did NOT download any books about HURRICANES!

But this one starts with a different kind of disaster, a collapse of a dam…and the conspiracy behind it---

Vindicator by Denney Clements is free today from the Amazon Kindle store.

Book Description:

Wichita’s struggling newspaper, the Examiner, sends veteran reporter Joe Emery to Colorado. The dam at the Herman Gunderson Reservoir, 60 miles west of the state line, has collapsed, sending billions of gallons of water coursing downstream into Kansas and killing three people. What at first seems a gut-wrenching natural disaster story, however, quickly becomes something far more sinister.
First, the Kansas governor, Mabel Hodge, bullies her way into a press conference aimed at explaining the disaster. She tells reporters that the collapse of the dam is a blessing for water-starved Kansas farmers and ranchers. These tasteless remarks are apparently intended to shore up Hodge’s candidacy for re-election. Election Day is two weeks away and her Republican challenger is ahead in the polls.

Then, a rival reporter for an upstart Internet news service reveals upstages Hodge. He suggests that the FBI’s official cover story for the disaster, that it is an ‘act of God,’ is a sham. He asserts that the dam was sabotaged and demands that the lead investigator for the FBI confirm it. Instead, the investigator shuts the press conference down.

Thrust into what could be the best story of his life, Emery, an old-school ink-stained wretch, learns that the feds not only lied about the cause of the disaster but also have detained three terrorism suspects – members of a radical environmentalist group. With the help of Carol, the lovely embattled sister of one of the detainees, Emery learns that the feds have the wrong people in custody – and know it.

Emery’s story on their deception quickly goes viral, humiliating the FBI. He’s ready to dig deeper for the truth but the Examiner orders him back to Wichita. During the trip home, he survives an attempt on his life. Two days later, the newspaper lays him off, citing declining profits as the reason. Off the story and stripped of his hard-earned identity, he sinks into despondency.

But with Carol’s encouragement, Emery shakes off his funk and starts The Vindicator, a public-affairs blog. He’s back on the story, navigating a treacherous political environment, uncertain who he can trust, trying to fend off goons sent to stop him. He soon learns that telling the story could carry a terrible cost to the people he loves, and that it may already be too late to back off.

I like to read farther down the amazon page too, to see what actual readers think:

Denney Clements, a newspaperman with a long, ink-stained career, has written an intriguing romp across the Kansas heartland, full of double-dealing, cold-blooded murder and political conspiracies -- all evoked with the inside knowledge of a real journalist. Sunny Kansas has never known true noir, but fictional newsman Joe Emery is a classic hard-boiled sleuth on the trail of a story that might cost him his life. If you enjoy mysteries with newspaperman heroes you'll love "Vindicator."

‘Nuff said! Downloaded! I’m picturing Denney Clements as a Robert Redford type

Or maybe…Matthew McConaughey! Now you’re talking!

As always, double check to make sure it’s still free before clicking. No affiliation, yada yada, etc ---

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A Little Hurricane Trouble?

This is where we need all the powers that be --- all the QG’s out there ((Quilty Goddesses, don’tcha know!?)) pulling together for some good vibes that this freaking storm move back OUT to sea! Or downgrades. Or Sumpthin’.

Do you see this picture to the left? I want to introduce you to Hurricane Irene! Though, you’ve probably already become familiar with her if you watch the weather channel, or your local news.

Lori pinged me yesterday morning. I’d been like an ostrich with my head in the sand-I was busy doing other things, and I really am not a TV watcher unless it is in the evening and I have hand work to do. Because we had been traveling over the weekend to visit the boys, and we didn’t watch TV or listen to the news at ALL over the weekend, I was completely clueless!

HURRICANE?! Oh NO! Our Caribbean Cruise with Sew Many Places ((My first ever time to be a teacher on a Quilting Crusie! Whoot!)) sets sail this Saturday from Port Canaveral, Florida!

This was the first I heard of it:

And No, we are not letting Lori’s hurt shoulder stop us either! But she better watch how heavy she packs her suitcase – Just sayin’! :cD

As I checked things this morning, this is where we stand:

- After departing the Northwest Bahamas early Friday Irene should parallel the Florida coast later Friday and approach the coast of the Carolinas later Saturday or Saturday night.

- Even though Irene is expected to miss Florida to the east, it is a larger-than-average hurricane, so the Sunshine State will still have some impacts.

- Heavy rain and strong winds are likely in eastern portions of Florida beginning late Wednesday night in southeast areas and spreading northward through Friday.

- Dangerous surf and rip currents are likely along the east coast of Florida beginning later Wednesday and lasting into the weekend. These coastal threats will expand northward along the Eastern Seaboard during the weekend and early next week.

- Irene could threaten the eastern portions of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast with damaging winds and flooding rains Sunday through early next week.

Of course, with hurricanes, nothing is certain. Things can change at any moment. It’s supposed to hit the Bahamas pretty hard, and that is where our first port of call is! Should be interesting to say the least, and in the mean time we hope for the best~

You know, after posting about my Great Auntie Irene HERE I am smiling to myself. They could have named this hurricane right after her, Always dancing in the kitchen, or the living room….and always making a stir!

Better start packing! I haven’t even begun yet, and my journey starts THURSDAY. I'm stopping in Columbia again, taking Jeff to dinner, and then staying with Jason and Kim. I'm leaving early Friday morning to drive down through SC, and GA, and finally down to Orlando where I am picking up Miss Lori at the airport, and escorting her in SHAMU the mini van ((We need it for all this LUGGAGE!!)) and away we go!

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