I won!

A couple of months ago, I won a contest for a gift code for csnstores.com. They have over 200 stores! How exciting!! I was thrilled.
It took me a LONG time to figure out what to use it for. There are just so many options! I could apply it towards the purchase of a new dining room table.  My dining area is pretty small. I saw this one, which I really like.

It would be perfect for us! I could fold the leaves down when it is not in use, so it doesn't take up too much space.

Or I could get myself a couple of these cute bookshelves

Or I could get something for one of the kids? The possibilities are (almost) endless!
I will let you know what I decided in a future post!!
In the meantime, check out the selection, and come back and leave a suggestion in the comment section! What would you choose?

Still Alice

Synopsis from goodreads.com


Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When She becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life - and her relationship with her family and world - forever.
What did I think?
This is the story of 50 year old neuroscience professor, Alice Howland, that is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease.
The book  is written from Alice's perspective which I think makes a world of difference. 
We follow Alice from her earliest symptoms to her diagnosis, and through the disease's progression. We see the changes in her behaviour, as well as the changes in her relationships with loved ones from her point of view.  
I absolutely loved Alice.  Isn't it ironic that she is a neuroscientist?
Reading this book truly was an amazing journey for me. As someone that has worked with Alzheimer's patients,  I found it VERY realistic. Alice's symptoms and behaviours reminded me of many of the men and women I worked with. 
As a busy mom of two, it is not often that I can read over 300 pages in less than 24 hours. In this case, I DID! I could not put it down!
If you know and love someone with Alzheimer's disease this is a MUST READ!

National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

 October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance   Day.(US) Many Canadian provinces also observe this day of   remembrance. Currently, though many people in Ontario observe it, it has not been officially declared as a day of remembrance. Many people are trying to make it happen.

On September 28th 2006, the United States House of Representatives declared October 15th a national day of remembrance.  It was the result of efforts by a group of miscarriage awareness activists. It was lead by Robyn Bear, who suffered six miscarriages in a span of two years.

On her website, Bear suggests that grieving parents light a candle at 7 pm (in their time zone) to create a wave of light around the world in memory of babies lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS etc. 

Please join me in lighting a candle at 7pm.  I will be remembering all those babies that were lost, including 3 of my own. I will light a candle for each of my angel babies that I lost on Nov. 4th 1993, Oct. 21st 2006, May 2008 - the twin of my 2 yr old son.

Tuesday PR Friendly Blog Hop - Meet new Review Bloggers

Welcome to the New Blog Hop hosted by Living Out Loud !
Add PR Friendly Giveaway and Review Blogs.

Brugo Mugs asked Living Out loud to pass along an opportunity
to review Brugo Mugs and possibly host an international giveaway for them.

If Chosen, you will get a Brugo Mug!

Interested bloggers:
1. Join this hop
2. blog about the hop, include the button
3. send email to livingoutloud3@gmail.com
subject line : SEND BRUGO CONTACT INFO
4. Living Out Lout will reply with Brugo contact info

Note~ Your blog will also be shown for one year on Living Out Loud's PR Friendly Page!

Let's Hop!

If you are interested go on over to Living Out Loud Blog to enter.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish.  They  love to share their  lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!  So, every week, a topic is posted. Bloggers create their Top Ten List based on the topic.   This week's topic :  Top Ten Books I'll NEVER read

Ok let me just say that I have attempted a few of these, so they definitely earned their spot on this list! All of them are books that were recommended to me.  I just didn't like them.  I know there are many readers out there that would disagree with me, which is fine. This is my just my opinion.  

1. Lethal Marriage : The Unspeakable Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmolka (or anything else on the subject).  I tried to read it, but had to put it down, and my roommate took it away because I screamed all night, having nightmares, for days, after reading only a few pages. This one hits way too close to home.  I grew up close to where Kristen French was abducted from. One of my best friends had known her as a child.  My stepfather's cousin lived across the street from Paul Bernardo, and Karla Homolka.  His cousin's daughter used to walk/watch their dog for them if they were out. She had been in that house alone, while Kristen was hidden in the basement. To this day she still feels guilty that she had no idea, she was there. If she had, there would have been many opportunities to help her escape. She has not forgiven herself for it, and will never be the same because of it.

2.  Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyers (or anything else written by her!)  I tried to read Twilight, but it just didn't do it for me. I wanted to like it, but I didn't. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. In my opinion, it was horrible! ( Remember, this is just my opinion, please don't yell at me...lol)

3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte  - I just don't like historical fiction.

4. Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling   - just not my thing. I am not into magic, or fantasy type stuff

5. Lord of The Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien - just not my thing.

6.  Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold  - I really, really, really wanted to love this one. I didn't. The first time, (yes there was more than one!), I tried to read it, I just couldn't get into it.  I have tried about 4 times now. It just doesn't capture my interest like I had hoped it would. 

7.  Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - I just didn't like the writing style.

8. We Need to Talk about Kevin  by Lionel Shriver - I didn't like the way this was written. I think I just couldn't get into it because of the format. I didn't like that it was written as letters to her dead husband. I don't even read Rich's mail, because it isn't addressed to me, so I had a hard time reading letters written from someone to her dead husband. If it was written in a different format, I am pretty sure I would have loved it.

9. The Gift by Cecilia Ahern (or anything else by her) - I just don't like her writing. I know she is pretty young, and maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe I will try her books again in the future.  Maybe she needs to mature a bit as a writer?

10.   Jackie Collins - I attempted one of her books once. I was at the cottage and had finished my books. I was desperate for another. Rich's aunts read a lot. One of them suggested that I go upstairs and browse through the books that are up there, and I was free to borrow anything I wanted! I was so excited!! I grabbed a couple of books, cuddled up in a chair, and started to read a book, got to about page 5 and realized that wasn't the book for me. I tried another, and another, and another, before I decided to just reread one of the books I had brought with me! Turns out Rich's aunts read SMUT! Jackie Collins is one of their favourite authors.

I am pretty sure some of you have read something from my list.  Do you love something on my list?  Are there books that you would never read?  I would love to know how you feel about my list.  Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Mini challenge Winners!

First, I would like to thank everyone that participated. I wish I could send every one of you a prize, but unfortunately, I can't. I had random.org choose the two winners for me.

The first number it chose was 1.

 Erin from http://erinreads.wordpress.com/  wrote "Smissthonging: moving about in a blurry, confusing manner; often associated with exhaustion

Example: She had read for so long that the words began smissthonging around on the page."

(From the title "Something Missing" by Matthew Dicks)in comment #1.

The second number it chose was 6.

fakesteph from http://booksfornerds.blogspot.com/ put this in a blog post

Here I go...

moonorfy

Which means...

tired to the point of incoherency.

The book she used was One For the Money by Janet Evanovich.

Congrats. I will be contacting you for your mailing addresses shortly. If you happen to see this first, just email me your address!

Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon Mini Challenge!!

YAY!! You made it!! 

Welcome, to the last mini challenge of the readathon!! So glad you are here!  You have made it to the end of the readathon! Way to go! Congratulations! You ROCK!!  I know you must be getting tired, so I won't ramble on!

I will get right to the mini-challenge, as soon as I am done telling you that there will be a minimum of 2 prizes.  The prizes will be a small package of bookmarks. Not sure how many it will contain, but there will be at least 5 in each prize package.  Two of them (per package) will be signed by one of my favourite authors, Sandra Brown!  The winners will be chosen by random.org.  Once, I receive the winners' names, I will confirm that the entry is valid.  Please leave the name of the country in which you reside in your comment as well, as this is open to international entrants!

And now for the mini-challenge.  I want you to "Make It Up" !!!

Take the letters of the title of a book that you read during  the readathon.  Using at least HALF of them, rearrange the letters to create a  word that DOESN’T exist. Make up a definition for your new word.  Be creative and have fun!

Post the title and author of the book, along with your word and its definition, in the comments section of this post.  If you have a blog, create a post for the challenge, and leave a link!  

Don't forget to include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you for your mailing address if you are one of the winners!

Have fun, and good luck!