Linda's Sunflower

from Country Living magazine

and the dog doesn't care...

Total books read in 2013: 106 Female authors: 91 Male authors: 15 FAVORITES (in no particular order): Sycamore Row by John Grisham Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay BIOS: Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin The Key is Love by Marie Osmond Hardbacks: 17 Paperbacks: 16 Kindle: 73 Most read authors: Janet Evanovich - 13 Brenda Novak - 9 books Susan Mallery - 8 books James Patterson and Sheryyl Woods - 4 books

Here are the books I read in October, November and December... OCTOBER 2013: 1) Starry Night - Debbie Macomber (kindle) 2) Take Me Home for Christmas - Brenda Novak (kindle) 3) Christmas on 4th Street - Susan Mallery (kindle) 4) Gone - James Patterson w/Michael Ledwidge (kindle) 5) Cowboy Dad - Cathy McDavid (kindle) 6) To The Nines - Janet Evanovich (paperback) 7) Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich (paperback) 8) Not Quite Enough - Catherine Bybee (kindle) 9) Johnny Carson - Harry Bushkin (kindle) 10) Through the Smoke - Brenda Novak (kindle) NOVEMBER 2013: 1) The Shining - Stephen King (kindle) 2) A Seaside Christmas - Sherryl Woods (kindle) 3) Christmas in Snowflake Canyon - Rae Anne Thayne (kindle) 4) No Exchanges, No Returns - Laurie Kellogg (kindle) 5) Sycamore Row - John Grisham (kindle) 6) Christmas Wishes - Danica Winters (kindle) 7) Dare to Love - Carly Phillips (kindle) DECEMBER 2013: 1) Eleven On Top - Janet Evanovich (paperback) 2) Time For Me To Come ...

Yesterday was a busy day. Before our wonderful evening with Blake Shelton; Corby, Kaitlin, Kaleb, Melody and I headed to Hesston and our first ever Kansas Barn Sale. It was a chilly morning, but we had a lot of fun - along with several thousand other folks!

ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS I'VE EVER BEEN TO! He's such a crack-up! Opening acts were Jana Kramer and Eastin Corbin. But Blake was definitely the star, and he had some surprise guests: Danielle Bradbury, last season's winner of The Voice (with Blake as her coach of course) and the AWESOME MIRANDA LAMBERT! They each sang a song. Great evening with Kaleb! Corby & Kaitlin sat up in the upper level, while Kaleb and I were on the floor, not far from the middle part of the stage that came out into the crowd.

This was my deck buddy tonight...

I read 6 books in September... 1) Rose Harbor in Bloom - Debbie Macomber (Kindle) 2) The Hero (Thunder Point) - Robyn Carr (Kindle) 3) Exclusive - Sandra Brown (Kindle) 4) Blackbird Lake (Lonesome Way #3) - Jill Gregory (Kindle) 5) Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich (paperback) 6) Every Breath She Takes - Norah Wilson (Kindle) The only new author I read this month was Norah Wilson. All 5 of the others are favorites of mine. I really get a kick out of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I always do a lot of laughing out loud at her books! Carr remains a favorite, and Brown continues to write good mystery/romances. I still enjoy Macomber, though her books are kind of running all together for me. Gregory is a recent find, and enjoyable. I will definitely look to read more books by Wilson.

Tested out a new app called "Photo Collage Maker" on my phone with this collage of Mikey...

We had a great weekend in KC! Picked Kaleb up in Manhattan on Saturday, then checked into the Marriott in Overland Park before heading to the Royals game. It was fan appreciation night, and we all got a Royals blanket! Unfortunately the Royals lost. Boo hoo! Sunday we had lunch with Kaitlin's friend, Lydia at IHOP; and then went to Macy's at Oak Park Mall where Kaleb bought a suit (for the K-State Career Fair). Doesn't he look handsome? Even though it's a "selfie" picture in the mirror?

Relaxed...enough said!

The Chiefs beat the Dallas Cowboys at Arrowhead today - 17-16! They are 2-0 to start the season!!!! So nice to see them win their second game already, seeing as how they only won 2 games all last season! I've been burning pumpkin apple cider candles all day. I'm ready for fall!

I used to like going to the state fair in Hutchinson, when there was a concert I wanted to see. Nowadays, there's not much reason to go, unless you want to try all the weird food, i.e. deep fried Snickers, etc. That's what Kaitlin and Corby like to do. So, today I went along...spent about 3 hours there and I had ONE fried green tomato, TWO bites of corn on the cob, about a third of a funnel cake, and a pronto pup. That was enough for me! The pronto pup (corn dog) was pretty tasteless, so I only ate about half of it. Traffic was a mess getting in, I guess because it was a nice day. Thank goodness it wasn't super hot, though we all got a little sunburned.

Typical busy day for me. It's getting to the time of year where we have bigger & crazier papers! YAY! Picked out our new front door yesterday, so we're hoping to have it installed in the next week or two. They will also be putting up the new guttering, so that will complete our home renovations for this year. Other than possibly replacing the fence across the back of our yard. Corby had some sad news last night. One of the newer employees at Foley had been in a car accident about a week ago, and he passed away yesterday from his injuries. So sad. He was only 31!

Moved Brandon from his 3 level, 2 bedroom townhome, 202 N. Rock Rd., Douglas & Rock, to his new apartment at Fox Run, Harry & Webb today. Suffice it to say I'm not fond of stairs!

Over the last 3 or 4 months, I bought all ten seasons of NCIS. I didn't watch the show when it began, because the kids were younger and we were on the run a lot. But after catching a couple of episodes from one of the middle seasons while laying in bed one morning, I decided I needed to start from the beginning. I didn't think I would get through season 10 before season 11 premieres on September 24th, but I did! I finished watching the last 5 episodes today. Since Corby gets up at 4am, if I can't go back to sleep, I watch a few episodes before I have to get up. I've really enjoyed the ensemble cast and the story lines of each episode. Sasha Alexander was only on the first two season, and then her character, Kate, was killed off (she wanted out of the show). Cote dePablo, who plays Ziva David, announced she would not be back for season 11. Her character will appear in the first two episodes to finalize her story. I will miss her, but the show will survive just fine...

Met most of the family at Olive Garden this afternoon to celebrate Marilyn's birthday (actually ON her birthday) and Nick's birthday, which was Aug. 31. Mike & Diana were not able to make it as he is still recovering from his hernia surgery and is having a few complications. Melody joined us and we had a good time. Didn't think to take any pictures, darn it! Terry & Sandy told us they are moving to Indiana to be closer to her parents. It will take them a while to get their house cleared out and ready to sell, but they're planning to be gone within a year. I'll be sorry to see them go, but I understand Sandy's desire to be closer to her parents, as they are both in their 80's.

Saturday is our day for errand running, and today was no different. We always start at Quik Trip, filling up my car w/gas. From there we headed west to Walmart on N. Maize Rd. Time to shop for my sister's birthday (tomorrow) and my nephew's birthday (Aug. 31), as the family is meeting at Olive Garden for lunch tomorrow to celebrate. From there we went to Dillons Super Store, not our normal Dillons, but since we were out west...I'm really not a fan of their super stores. I prefer our normal store at 37th & Woodlawn, but we did manage to get out of there without spending $100! Brandon called when we were on the way home and wanted us to meet him at HuHot for lunch. So after bringing the groceries home we headed to HuHot, at 21st & Rock. We had a very nice lunch AND visit, and then Brandon went home to continue packing for his move on Wednesday. Corby & I watched a couple of episodes of NCIS from season 10. I'm down to 5 episodes left in order to be read...

Well, I tried to keep the sun out this morning...

I read 9 books in August: 1) Perfect Fling - Carly Phillips (Kindle) 2) Daddy's Gone A Hunting - Mary Higgins Clark (hardback) 3) Castaway Cove (Shelter Bay) - JoAnn Ross (Kindle) 4) A Tap on the Window - Linwood Barclay (Kindle) 5) Almost Summer (Fool's Gold) - Susan Mallery (Kindle) 6) Halfway There (Fool's Gold) - Susan Mallery (Kindle) 7) The Second Chance Cafe - Allison Kent (Kindle) 8) Seven Up - Janet Evanovich (paperback) 9) Three Little Words - Susan Mallery (Kindle) The only new author in this bunch is Kent, and I really enjoyed The Second Chance Cafe. Barclay continues to amaze me - he's one of my favorites! Love Mallery's stuff, and Mary Higgins Clark stepped up her game again with a better book than she's written in a while. I'm ahead in my goal of reading 105 books. I'm at 79...8% ahead of schedule. I'm gonna keep on reading, reading, reading - along with finishing season 10 of NCIS, in preparation to watch the S...