Mystery Book Series

If you've read the two book reviews that I have just done and posted in the last few days, you will notice that I enjoy Mystery Book Series. I have read a number of them, and I am working on getting more information to you on them, more reviews, lists of the books in the series in order and stuff like that!

I love to read, and to share what I have read, and this blog is a great place to do it! The idea behind this whole blog has changed and grown over time as I have changed and grown over time and I hope that you still enjoy it! Thank you for reading!

Now....for a list of the different series that you have to look forward to hearing about:

Needlecraft Mystery Series
Teashop Mystery Series
Coffehouse Mystery Series
Knitting Mystery Series
Mommy Track Mystery Series
Scrapbooking Mystery Series
Card Making Mystery Series
Bath and Body Shop Mystery Series

So far, those are the ones that I have read at least some if not all of the series! I know there are probably more out there, and I will be looking into them, but I have three new books that just arrived this week, and two older books that I swapped, to read before I venture onto a new series.

Speaking of swapping. I recently found a wonderful website....http://www.paperbackswap.com
You can list books you have at home in good condition, someone then requests the book from you, you mail it to them, which earns you a credit that you can use to request a book from someone else. What it is bascially is swapping your old, read books out for ones you haven't read! Yeah, it costs you to ship the book to someone, but they pay to ship the book to you, so basically you are recycling your bookshelf for the cost of shipping! How great is that?!?!? I just love it!!

Okay, so off to work then to read so that I can enlighten you all more with another book review!

A Needlecraft Mystery Series

by: Monica Ferris

1. Crewel World
2. Framed in Lace
3. A Stitch in Time
4. Unraveled Sleeve
5. A Muderous Yarn
6. Hanging by a Thread
7. Cutwork
8. Crewel Yule (includes a crewel pattern)
9. Embroidered Truths (includes a counted cross stitch pattern)
10. Sins and Needles

Book Review - Crewel Yule

Another book review.

Crewel Yule
by: Monica Ferris
A Needlecraft Mystery (Book 8)

This is another in the series by Monica Ferris in the life and crimes of Betsy Devonshire, part-time amature sleuth and owner of a needlework shop that she got from her sister (story in the first book, Crewel World).

The neat thing, for those that like to actually do some needlework, is that each of the books contains a pattern in the back. The pattern in this book is actaullay a Crewel pattern, which is not something that I have tried, but I love the pattern. The next book in the series will have a Cross Stitch pattern.

Betsy Devonshire is wonderful main charachter. She is delightful and feels like a good friend. She never means to get involved in the crimes, but always gets pulled in by someone or another close to her or close to the victim. The relationship between Betsy and the local detective, has developed over the books, and although we don't get to see him in this book, as it is set entirely away from Excelsior, MN. The realtionship started out as pure dislike, almost hate on the detective's part, espically after Betsy provd to be a better detective than he was, but as the books have gone on, there has become more of a relationship of respect from the detective in her abilities.

Goodwin, the store manager and Betsy's friend is a riot! I love reading about him and his over-the-top behavior and fun life seneablilties. Police officer, Jill Cross Larson, is in this book as well, and the relationship and the respect that she has for Betsy is shown in her working with Betsy on this mystery.

It's a fun, sit down with a warm cup of tea, a nicd fuzzy blanket wrapped around you and read in an evening. Just makes you feel good, surround yourself by friends that take care of each other in the needlework shop and enjoy the ride.

This book being set outside the normal life and working of the usually people, makes it a little different, but it was a nice change of pace, but I have to say that I truely enjoy the other books, set in Excelsior and in Crewel World and thereabouts better. The just have a much more at home feel to them and the are relaxing to me.

This series you could probably read out of order and still get enjoy the books, but each book builds on the relationships started, formed and grown in the book previous, so reading them in order is defintely the way to go!

Live and In Person - December 1st

Live and In-Person! Come see a TAMM creation's latest items for the holidays!

When: Saturday, December 1st, 2007
9am to 2 pm

Where: Eagles Landing Mall
Ellettsville, IN
(the old Ellettsville Elementary school gym)

What: Craft Fair!!

I will be there with Christmas Socks and Hair barrettes, along with some key fob, zipper pulls too. Come see what a TAMM creation has to offer, and check out the others that will be there too! What a way to spend the saturday morning!

Mention this post from my blog when you come in on Saturday, and I will give you a FREE gift!

Prayer for Today, November 20th

Lord, help me to serve You the way You want me to. Reveal to me any area of my life where I should be giving to someone right now. Open my eyes to see the need. Give me a generous heart to give to the poor. Help me to be a good steward of the blessings You have given me by sharing what I have with others. Use me to toch the lives of others with the hope that is in me.


As we enter into the Thanksgiving Week...may we all be mindful of how much we truely have in this counrty and how much is lacking in others. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving surround by family and friends, and may you realize that you are blessed and be willing to share your blessings with those who are not where you are in life. May God's love and Spirit be with you this Thanksgiving, and may you feel as blessed and you are.

From my family to yours, a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!!

The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library - Review

Reading books is one of my favorite past times, and I love to share books that I enjoyed with others. I have been thinking about it for awhile, writing a review of a book here on my blog, but I have just never seemed to get around to doing it. Well, you know, I have just decided to jump in and do it.

The Ghost and the Dead Man's Library
by: Alice Kimberly
A Haunted Bookshop Mystery - Book Three

Give me a good mystery any day, and I am happy. Although they say that once you read enough of an author, you start to see their pattern and you can tell who done it before the end, but to tell you the truth with this one, I didn't see who it was until about the same point as the main character, the end.

Penelope Thornton-McClure is the main character, a widow and single mother, who runs an independent bookstore with her aging aunt. The bookstore is "haunted" by the ghost of PI Jack Shepard, now he doesn't really do any haunting, but serves more as a friend and helper to Pen.

This book revolves around a collection of books by Edgar Allan Poe, actually it is another authors attempt to compile a complete anthology of Poe's works that becomes the focus of crime and mystery.

The author includes numerous quotes from Poe's works in the chapter titles pages, and does give some brief look into his life, but winds it in with the story and the characters very well.
My favorite thing this author does in this Bookshop Mystery series is weave the present day story into a case of the now deceased Jack Shepard, using the old case to help solve the current. The flashbacks to the old case are well written and timely, they don't disrupt the modern day story in the least, and in fact I find them to be enjoyable.

The relationship between Pen and Jack is another thing that is fun. He is like a good friend, helping her heal over the loss of her husband, dealing with being a single mom now, and moving through the work on his old cases and these new things that keep popping up.

It is a great casual read. No overt sexual encounters, no blatant violence, usually only the aftermath (finding a body). So it is a great read for teens as well as adults. I have read all three books in this series now, and enjoyed them all. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Quilty Pleasures

So here it is, Friday and I haven't stopped in and blogged about anything in over a week, and why is that???
My guilty pleasure? The Bachelor! Okay, so I am a hopeless romantic at heart and I believe in true love and that everyone deserves a chance at true love.
So every year, or at least the last three or so, I have been watching The Bachelor and doing pretty good. The difference this year....well I discovered the fan forums! Oh my gosh!! Right now I visit Jokers.com and FansOfRealityTV.com and read the posts. Okay....I am addicted! I have to visit them all the time! The people out there that are sluething and finding clues to what is going to happen before hand are amazing and the theories and things that people come up with! WOW!
I am spending so much time there that I am not getting anything else done, and that is not a good thing! I haven't blogged, I haven't cleaned house and I definetly haven't been working, but then again we are still slow at work and that is what is driving me crazy.
So, finally on Monday The Bachelor will come to an end, and of course I have Girl Scout Leader Meeting that night! UGH! Do I miss the meeting or just leave early? Humm. I can't miss my Bachelor, can I? It's amazing the things that we get addicited to and how excited we get over someone elses life.
So tune in Monday, after the final Bachelor and I will let you know what I thought. Yes, I have my favorite, but I am not about to tell right now. I will save that until afterwards and let you know if I was happy or not with the outcome.

Readers Theater for Halloween

So for something different this year for Halloween, Mrs. Richardson's First greade class at EPS, which is Maeve's class, but on a Reader's Theater.

Maeve, who is in the highest reading group in class, was the assistant director. She performed in the the reading of the play for her group, then was the understudy in all the other groups in case someone was sick that day, and she then helped to direct the play and who was reading at what time and help with words in the other plays.

I was at work and had to miss the Reader's Theater, but Brad went and his mom also went and they brought home these pictures. I loved listening to Maeve explain everything while telling me about the pictures. As you can tell, I am one proud mommy!

I think she got her love of reading from me, as I love to read and usually have a book going at all times, although finding the time to read anymore is getting hard, but I still hope that I can pass that love of reading on to all the kids!

Harvest Party

Every year, the First Assembly of God in Ellettsville has a Harvest Party in the parking lot behind Arby's on Halloween night. It includes bouncy rides, games and free candy and food. For the past few years, the kids have choosen to go to the Harvest Party instead of going trick or treating. Given how dark our neighborhood is, that is fine by me.

I have never really been into the whole trick or treating thing that much, and although we did take Tiernan when he was 2 years old in a neighborhood of some good friends, and then the next year when he was 3 and Maeve was 1 we went to the local mall, which was NOT a good idea. Since then, Tiernan has choosen to do the Harvest Fest.
As you can tell, the kids don't dress up for it, and so far I have never had to worry with my kids, because they have never picked anything that I would not let them wear.

We have always enjoyed the Harvest Fest, although this year was not quite as good as in the past. It seemed like they had more difficulity getting people to work it this year, and so there were not as many people watching the kids on the bouncy rides, and some of the people watching were kids about the same age as those playing. I know that it can be really hard for a church to get people involved year after year in something, espically if they don't see the good in it, and it just seemed like this year, people weren't as willing to help out as in the past. Now I don't hold that against the church at all. Being in our church and working in VBS and Sunday School, I see it all too often. We'll probably be back again next year to see how it goes.

So thanks to the Ellettsville First Assembly of God for putting on the Harvest Fest, and to those who see my kids...they had a blast!

Saturday November 3rd - Thought

Lord, I thank You that You are the Healer. I look to You for my heling whenever I am injured or sick. I pray that You would strengthen and heal me today. I know that in your presence is where I will find healing. In Your presence I can reach out and touch You and in turn be touched by You.

Now, this is the prayer on my daily calander for saturday, and although I didn't read it on Saturday because it was on my desk at work....it fit for Saturday. I really wasn't feeling well, and had I been able to read this and focus on God that day, I know I would have felt so much better.

Now before anyone yells at me for trusting in the Lord for healing, let me say right off the bat, that I am the first to take the kids to the doctor if they are the least bit sick. That is not what I see in this prayer. I see that turning to God when you are sick, or even just feelign down, laying it all in his hands and he will met the needs you have, it might be healing, but it might be a warm touch that reminds you that you are a human and worthy of love.

My prayer today? That each of you that reads this might be touched by the hand of God and know that he loves you just as you are, and that you a loved.

Holiday Bazar and Turkey Dinner

Holiday Bazar and Turkey Dinner

St Paul UMC 4201 West Third Street, Bloomington, IN

Thursday 11/1/07:
Soup Lunch from 11am - 1pm
Holiday Bazar, Country Kitchen and Trash to Treasure open 9am - 4 pm

Friday 11/2/07:
Holiday Bazar, Country Kitchen and Trash to Treasure open 9am - 7pm
Turkey Dinner from 4:30pm - 7pm

Holiday Bazar room has hand craft holiday items made by the ladies of the church. All procceds go to project within the church.

Country Kitchen has homemade pies, cakes, cookies, fudge and all kinds of yummies made by the good folks of the church.

Trash to Treasures room has just that, old jewelry, computers, decorations, just a little of everything that just might be the treasure you are looking for!

Come one, come all and enjoy some early Christmas shopping and great food, all made by the good folks of the church. All proceeds go to the church.