Is It Ever Too Late to Return a Library Book???

200 years after being loaned out, a library book has found its way back to the library!

200-year-old library book returned to Maine library

By Abigail Curtis / Bangor Daily News, Maine

CAMDEN, Maine -- The worn leather book might be riddled with tiny wormholes and have pages that are yellowed by time.  But two centuries after being part of Camden’s very first lending library, Oliver Goldsmith’s 1790 "History of England, Vol. 1," has come home at last to the delight of astonished local librarians.  You can read the rest of the article here.

Leads from Linda

We recently discovered LadiesLoop.com at a recent Five Star co-op event.  You might want to give this a try.  

Best,

~Linda

 

Hi Ladies,    This has been an exciting couple of weeks for LadiesLoop.  We were featured on multiple news stations in Phoenix and have had over 1,000 women join in the past week!  We have received a lot of questions about what LadiesLoop can do for you and other women in the Valley.  Here are some quick examples: Advertise your business for FREE Sell stuff you don't use or need (make $$$) Find deals on services and goods (save $$$) Inform women about events around the Valley Find female friendly housing Find employment Share a recipe etc, etc, etc As you can see, LadiesLoop is the ultimate go-to resource for all women in the Valley.  If you have friends or family that could benefit from our network, please direct them to the website. I'm calling on all of our members to visit the site and make atleast one post.  Your post could be anything from a networking event to an employment opportunity.  It's all about keeping each other in the "LOOP."  The more posts we have, the more beneficial this will be to us all.  So far, the children's goods section has the most items, but I would like to see the events, deals, and groups categories fill up with useful information. Spoiler Alert! Next week, LadiesLoop will be having its first Purse Party.  So get those purses out of the closet and shine them up...take a few pictures...and get ready to post them for sale.  Stay Tuned! Here's to Peace, Love, and Shopping my friends, Ashley

The Perfect Mother’s Day Gifts!

by Amy Lignor of The Write Companion

The irrefutable queen of humor, Erma Bombeck, once penned a bestselling novel titled, Motherhood:  The Second Oldest Profession.  How do you tell the difference between motherhood and the first oldest profession?  Mom can’t leave the room after work and head for a hot bath and a glass of wine.  Mom, after returning from a grueling day on the job has the fun tasks of cooking dinner, cleaning the dishes, helping us kids with our homework, AND having to listen to how Dad’s day went before ever even seeing that bathtub, or enjoying a much-needed glass of wine. 

Motherhood isn’t for everyone.  It takes stamina, drive, courage, a HUGE sense of humor, and a deep faith in God - or anyone else who’ll listen.  So, with Mother’s Day upon us, you need to don your thinking caps and find the one gift that she would absolutely love besides the run-o’-the-mill flowers, candy, cards and, perhaps, jewelry (if said son and/or daughter has a REALLY good job). 

There is no one on Earth who is loved more than a certain woman who lives in my home.  This woman watched me day in and day out and put up with all my garbage through my psychotic teenage years without ever lighting a cigarette, or staring longingly at a length of rope.  Can I attest to the wine?  Nope.  But being a Mom myself, I hope she did take a few slugs.  God knows, she deserved it.   

She is also a woman who says flowers, candy, and cards are a waste of money.  So this year, I went the personal route (AND ahead of time, thank you very much.  My Mom wanted two things for Mother’s Day:  Alan Alda or, her own crystal-clean shower.  You see, Mom has osteoporosis, and when you can’t bend very well to get every soap-slimed section in that shower spic-and-span, you get stressed.  So, as the beloved daughter, the SOS pads came out, the cleaning materials and caulk were bought, the sweat dripped off my forehead, the cuss words came forth, but a clean shower was had.  So, before the magical date of May 8^th, that woman stepped into a shower that made her feel as if she’d gotten jewelry, after all.  In fact, she stayed in there so long we thought she was going to come out with a mermaid’s tail or covered in fish scales.

Other suggestions to cut down the stress in your Mom‘s life: 

1)  Set your dog on the annoying neighbors who are disturbing Mom while she‘s trying to read, and have your big, beloved friend scare the pants off them so they’ll never return.

2)  Protest in front of the cable company - medieval style, with torches - because Mom keeps paying for the internet and it never works.

3)  Get Alan Alda - his wife MUST be sick of him by now.

4)  If doctor’s frighten you Mom, accompany her to her next appointment.  And, if the MD says something that makes her scared, take the blood pressure cuff off the wall, wrap it around the MD’s neck, issue a Xena-warrior princess cry, and squeeze.  (If your Mom really loves you, she’ll meet you at the police station with bail).

5)  The ultimate gift - the Jacuzzi.  Even though you’ll race her to it, she probably has the cat trained well enough to trip you so that - even with the osteoporosis - she can enjoy it first.

6)  Buy the case of wine and a box of straws.  Maybe she’ll share. J  And, if your Mom’s wish is for grandchildren, buy two cases and have a M*A*S*H DVD festival.  (Hopefully, she’ll forget).

Now…for Father’s Day?  Let me think on that, you may have to stick with that god-awful tie.

To all the women out there who literally make the world a better place…

Happy Mother’s Day!

Friday Finds

Friday Finds is hosted

by Should Be Reading

Canaan's Land Joshua Lee's life is turned upside down when his father forces the family to move to West Texas in 1868. The Civil War is over, but hardships and perils remain. Joshua and his parents will have to face rattlesnakes, wild bulls, floods, and fistfights . . . and their own growing fears. With the aid of Specks, his bluetick hound, Joshua struggles to help the family survive. But will it be enough? Will Mama, Papa, and he ever reach Canaan's Land? In the tradition of Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows, award-winning short story writer and outdoor journalist John Evans spins a compelling tale of love and forbearance.

Sea Horse, Run! Every animal on the coral reef is frightened by the news: "A sea dragon is coming!" Even Shark, Eel, and Octopus flee, but Sea Horse's best friend, Coral, is attached to the reef. Coral cannot leave, but she is not afraid for herself. Brave Sea Horse stays behind to protect Coral from the monstrous beast, but when the dragon finally arrives, Sea Horse discovers that sea dragons aren't so terrible after all. Children will enjoy the panorama of an Australian reef that identifies forty animals featured in the book.

Dead Men Do Tell Tales Characterized by the author as "a murder-filled crossword puzzle without the squares," this book of 61 mini-mysteries challenges readers' knowledge of pop-culture trivia. Solutions to the witty whodunits involve literature, art, music, history, baseball, and other subjects of popular interest. Readers can play alone or in groups. Hints and solutions.

Blood of the Reich William Dietrich is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including the upcoming Blood of the Reich and the Ethan Gage adventures, The Dakota Cipher, The Rosetta Key, and Napoleon's Pyramid. He is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, historian, and naturalist. A winner of the PNBA Award and Washington Governor Writer's Award, he is a professor of journalism at Western Washington University.

Lost on Treasure Island When Midwesterner Steve Friedman arrived in Manhattan, the land of the quick and the mean, raring to go and ready to conquer, he soon found pitfalls and pratfalls more numerous and perilous than he had ever imagined. Here is his utterly honest, often hilarious, self-deprecating account of those fateful years, starting with his first job at GQ and his awkward efforts to impress his boss, Art Cooper, and including real and imagined love affairs, disasters at work and play, growing self-awareness with its inevitable bouts of depression and subsequent therapies—all of which fail—and in the end, a wisdom that promises better things to come.

Death With Dignity n Death with Dignity, Robert Orfali makes a compelling case for legalized physician-assisted dying. Using the latest data from Oregon and the Netherlands, he puts a fresh new slant on perennial debate topics such as "slippery slopes," "the integrity of medicine," and "sanctity of life." His engaging writing style brings clarity to these issues. The content is thought-provoking; the arguments are well-researched, air-tight, and original.
This extraordinary book provides an in-depth look at how we die in America today. It examines the shortcomings of our end-of-life system. You'll learn about terminal torture in hospital ICUs and about the alternatives: hospice and palliative care. With laser-sharp focus, Orfali scrutinizes the good, the bad, and the ugly. He provides an insightful critique of the practice of palliative sedation. The book makes a strong case that assisted dying complements hospice. By providing both, Oregon now has the best palliative-care system in America. Reading this book, above all, may help you or someone you care about navigate this strange landscape we call "end of life." It can be your gentle and informed guide to "a good death" in the age of hospice and high-tech medical intervention.

Williams-Sonoma Good Food to Share: Recipes for Entertaining Williams Sonoma Good Food to Share is available as an application for the iPad and features Mag+, the award-winning digital publishing platform created by Bonnier for the iPad and other tablet computers. Mag+ combines everything that’s great about reading a physical book with the best elements of the web, allowing users a new way to interact with the content.

Amazon is Getting Romantic

Amazon has recently announced a new venture - that of publisher of romance novels.  They've been advertising for positions in both editorial and publishing, for offices in New York and Seattle.  The new imprint, Montlake Romance, has scheduled its first release for this fall.  Word is that if successful, Amazon will expand into other genres. 

The Big 5 - O

Whoo-hoo!  Let's party! 

Our blog has finally reached the big 5-O.  What's 5-O?  It's my lingo for 50 followers.  We've had lots of fun getting here and plan to keep going, offering lots of author interviews as well as other tidbits from the world of books.  Look for more posts from our reviewers offering insight into the world of reviewing as well as some, well, plain goofy and funny observations of life.  We're also planning some fun giveaways, many just for followers of our blog. Looking forward to adding the next 50 followers. Enjoy and thanks for coming along for the ride.  Oh, and I do believe this celebration wouldn't be complete without some chocolate so please help yourself!

New Book Giveaway Contest

Check out this month's book giveaway.  It's a copy of the new children's book, Dream Big Little Pig! by Kristi Yamaguchi.  You can read the review here and then enter the contest here.  Good luck!