Sunday Salon: The Week Without End

 Good morning friends!  Well, as I predicted, I think this week will go down in the record books as one of the more hairy ones I've had in awhile.  Everything that happened was GOOD, so I won't complain.  Too much.  Did I tell you I was giving up all alcohol for Lent?  I'm starting to question this decision.


So the beginning of the week was a normal kind of busy.  I endured the normal Andre torture on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, plus Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights when my kids go.  It is tiring, but it is a good feeling.  I've dropped 22 pounds, and I feel like a new person.  The kids had to be chauffeured to volleyball and horseback riding lessons.  I cleaned the house and raked leaves and walked.  Normal stuff.  


Thursday was our Adult Literacy League annual fundraising event called Reading Between the Wines.  I was there working from 2:00pm until about 10:00pm, helping set up the auction, and then once the event started, "selling" my books!  We had some great author-signed books and packages there, and it was my mission to get people excited about them.  I would just poke my head between bodies and whisper "Oooh, that book is sooooo good!".  I don't know any hard numbers yet but I know we did well.  A big THANK YOU goes out Kathy, Julie and Jill for their book donations, plus Wendy Wax and the gals at Southern Belle View for their generous package donations. The lady that won the opportunity to get her name in Wendy's next book was absolutely GIDDY.  I think she giggled for 10 minutes straight, with a crazy look in her eye (I think she might have been a little nervous she might end up being a villain!).


On Friday, I had the privilege of sitting on a panel for the Sleuthfest writer's conference with Nancy Pate (On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever), former columnist at the Orlando Sentinel and Oline Cogdill, a professional reviewer and syndicated columnist.  The panel was called "Reviewing the Reviewers" and I had a ball.  Some other highlights were listening to Jeffrey Deaver go over his rules for a successful mystery novel, and listening to Elizabeth Hand (on my short-term gotta-have list) talk about plotting.  She is so cool, that one.  Love her tattoos.


Saturday was my daughter's 14th birthday, so I took her and her best friend to a Disney spa for the day, and then went out to a Japanese steak house for dinner with the entire family.  (Alas, I did not "spa", I laid in one place like an old toad and read a book pretending I was bored and on vacation.)


Today will be packed as well with church, horseback riding lessons, Animal Shelter volunteering, and a dinner out to celebrate my dad's birthday.


Before I talk about my reading for the week, I did want to point out that March is Pekkanen Until You Puke Month here at the blog.  Every Thursday this month, I will be reviewing one of Sarah Pekkanen's books.  I'm probably the last person to discover this, but she is a wonderful writer and a wonderful person, and we are having way too much fun with this.


On the audio front, I finished "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns, and OK I will admit I liked it.  It probably won't end up on my favorite of the year, but it was charming.  I also just finished William Landay's "Defending Jacob", and I loved this twisty turny story.  I think my next listen will be "Stay Awake" by Dan Chaon.


In print I finished Sarah Pekkanen's "Opposite of Me" and Marybeth Whalen's "She Makes It Look Easy".  I also squeezed in a fun little jaunt through Lynda Barry's graphic novel "Picture This".  (You can tell my husband was out of town, otherwise I never would have been this productive in the evenings.)  I just started Sarah Pekkanen's new book "These Girls".  And you know, I haven't puked yet!


Hope you all have a great Sunday.  Anything exciting going on?