Samantha_kathy’s Attempt to Conquer Mount TBR in 2013 – Part 1

Hi Samantha, I starred your thread. It's so well-organized.

Glad to see you back with us again! Happy New Year!

Thanks! Maybe I can keep up a bit better this year.

Nope, not yet.

Welcome back!

#11: Will do!

Happily, I have found your thread and starred it so I can find it again later. I need to get back in to my RTT reading.... I will need to stop by the group and find out what the January theme/period is and see if I have anything on the shelves that fit it. Hope you have a Happy New Year!

Hi! Here to star your thread and thank you for the warm welcome to this lovely group! You have a definite reading plan -- good for you! Good luck with your 2013 series.... I should be setting that as my goal too (thinking of stealing inspiration). :)

I have the first book in the White House Chef series and haven't managed to fit it into my reading yet. I'll have to try to get to it this year since everyone who follows the series seems to love it.

Great meme! It's been fun to see everyone's responses. I'm not sure I've seen the same book twice.

Adding your a star to your thread for the very first time. Best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Hi Samantha....Stopping by to star you so I can keep track of how life is treating you. I too will be reading more in my favorite series. I love how you've set up your challenges, and have already added the Juli Hyzy to my list. Hope the New Year is starting out to be a good one.

I'm looking forward to your reading adventures in 2013, Samantha!

And I'm rewarded nicely for searching for your thread - you've reminded me of the White House Chef books, which I keep meaning to put on my wishlist.
Excited to follow you this year!

So glad you enjoyed Mr. Churchill's Secretary, I had the same positive reaction you did, and enjoyed the next one Princess Elizabeth's Spy almost as much. This could turn into a really enjoyable series.

Thanks for commenting on my thread. I also love series and I look forward to seeing which ones you read this year.

Returning your visit, Samantha. Glad you've had such a good reading start to the year. :)

I enjoyed The Last Guardian well enough. It was a good ending....and leaves openings for follow-up series of course. :)

Oh, it ends. I had been wishing he'd conclude the series for a while now. My GUESS would be that he might want to start a follow-up series about the twins, but that's just rumor of course.

I always envy people who have the option of working from home. Although, I'm not sure I'd be as productive if I were at home. Hope you have fun moving books around. :)

Hi Samantha! Thanks for visiting my thread. Dropping off a star here.

Mr. Churchill's Secretary looks good. Will have to check that out.

I agree, rearranging one's books is actually a fun chore! My problem is that I start reading one or two and then hours have gone by...

Sandy K

Now that I'm back home, I'm finding all the threads I couldn't find by iPhone. You've already got a couple of winners under your belt. I need to get back to Hyzy's White House Chef series. I've only read the first one. I've also got the first book in her other series in a TBR pile. I don't think I'll get to either this month. I think I'm going to order a new bookshelf to help with my cookbook overflow. Then I need to get some shelves for downstairs where the boxes are stacking up and for the extra bedroom that has room for another shelf or two. One at a time! Hopefully I'll eventually get it under control. I'm more concerned about the overflowing cookbooks and genealogical section than the rest though.

I'm planning to read Mrs. Pollifax on Safari later this month. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

That Zambia one sounds good.

It will fit this month's RTT. However, the main reason I'm reading it is for my Commonwealth Challenge. It will be my Zambia book. I had already penciled it in as a possibility for this month when I saw you had listed it for one of the TIOLI challenges.

It will also fit for the January Alpha CAT challenge in the Category Challenge group since this month's letters are A and M and the title starts with an M!

I've read a few of the Mrs. Pollifax books but it has been awhile. I got a kick out of autocorrect. It changed her surname to Polluted.

I did a grocery store run. I had signed up for a genealogy webinar this afternoon. By the time I got the groceries put up, I only had about 15 minutes to put together a sandwich. I had intended to make tacos until that alert reminded me of the webinar. As it turned out, the webinar was mostly boring for me, and I found myself working on my Ancestry online tree. I am currently working on the siblings of my grandparents as far as inputting info and moving the lines forward, and as I'm doing it, I'm taking notes to update my RootsMagic software too. I discovered all sorts of info that I didn't know about one of my 2nd cousins. I did a little reading this morning, and I'll do some more in a bit. However, a library and bookstore run sounds like a winner to me.

Hi Samantha, I'll definitely read Letters from High Latitudes now.
Genealogy research ... I love it.

So far, I managed to trace back my ancestors too, some of them to the 16th century, but I have not gotten round to real history. So what do you mean about "stories behind the facts?" Do you actually find stories related to your own family specifically or more generally about the places they lived in or the work they did, etc.?
Have you read any books by Marguerite Yourcenar? In Archives du Nord and Souvenirs Pieux, she has reconstructed her own family-history and I loved it.

I love these family-stories. And I admire people who bother to look them up. In my profession I often meet people who frantically look for their ancestors, but only care about the dates. It's a bit sad. I've thought of getting myself organized to start digging into the family-history too, now that I've collected the framework, but it takes up a lot of time. And time is a precious commodity right now.
I saw Roots on television when I was young. It's probably subconsciously influenced me to become a historian.

I see you're getting ready to read John Adams.... I just loved that book. Adams was kind of a curmudgeonly guy but what a love story between him and Abigail! Sometimes real life stories are more romantic than fiction...some of their letters were very touching. I hope you enjoy it too.

Great review of Letters from High Latitudes!

Oooh, I just love David McCullough, and the combination of his fantastic writing and Adams' interesting life is a real winner.
There have been a lot of incidents lately, it seems, of people being *pushed* in front of trains, too. Very troubling.

Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead sounds like fun - I'll have to keep that one in mind!

Have a wonderful time with your Agatha Christie reading - I went on a Christie binge a while back (the late 90s, maybe?), but I didn't get to them all. Maybe it's time to revisit Dame Agatha.

*kick*

Samantha Kathy, I do the same with series, but in my case if the series is a favorite one that I don't want to see end, I save the last book for years before finally giving in and reading it.

Oh, I do the exact same thing with series. I can't even count how many series are on the shelves downstairs that just have the final book or two to go... I'm actually doing that with the Artemis Fowl books at the moment, too. Sigh.

I was just commenting elsewhere that I still had the last Miss Zukas mystery on the shelf, where I've been avoiding reading it....

Hi Samantha, I pick up The State of the Onion from the library today. Looks good and it's short enough but I'm not sure I can fit it into my reading schedule. I'll try or pass it on to my mom who's always looking for a good series.
Hope you're feeling better and sleeping through the night.

#57: I downloaded that book to my Nook not long ago. I really need to get around to reading it one of these days. Thanks for the reminder!

Happy Sunday!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend - and I'm ok with skipping to Tuesday!

I occasionally get those requests to review books from authors. I hope yours is well-written.

Hey Samantha, how cool to receive a request from an author and it's good reason to be excited. Have a good time with your "fun writing project #1 today.

Oooh, shiny new toy. :)

You know, as long as it's got up-to-date operating system and software, I think I'd be just as happy with a second-hand laptop. But then, I have learned to be frugal. :-)

And how nice that you know you can trust your friends to steer you in the right direction.

How wonderful to have 'friends in the business' as they say! Enjoy your shopping.

Hope you had a great day shopping for a new laptop. It's always fun yet a little nerve-wracking when one shops for new computers.

The thing I always dread is transferring files over and then getting all the settings and preferences just the way I like them. Once that's done, it's smooth sailing.

Sounds delicious. I am far from a neat cooker either, I put together a Seafood Strata earlier today for dinner tonight and even though it's a very simple receipe, I had dishes piled everywhere!

I'm a big fan of calzones, but have never made them myself. Hmm...tomato sauce on the walls - that may be a reason to continue not to!

Good luck with the craft room re-org - I hope it's fun!

#104 - A Strata is a layered dish, in this case cubes of Italian bread are layered with the seafood (scallops - lightly poached, shrimp and crab), grated cheeses, and green onions. Then a milk/egg/herb mixture is poured over. The dish sits for a few hours to allow the bread to soak up the liquid, then it is baked in the oven. Comes out like a bread pudding and is very yummy.

I hope the room reorganization goes well! I need to reorganize my entire house, lol.

Hope you got that genealogy software installed. That's usually the first program I install when I get a new computer.

Every winter I tell myself I'm going to cook more with pumpkin, but somehow I never do. Your dinner plans sound excellent - perhaps you'll motivate me!

I think I'll grow a culinary pumpkin variety this year. I'm pretty good about at least trying to use (or give away - hooray for Plant a Row for the Hungry) vegetables I grow myself.

Too bad about the work output, but your reading sounds good!

Have a wonderful weekend.

It's much safer to stay at home in that kind of weather. Just make sure the murderer stays put in the pages of your book. You wouldn't want one loose around the house when you can't go out!

We had freezing rain and icy roads yesterday. The temperature rose above freezing sometime during the night because the icicles are gone from all the trees, cars, etc.

I'm at a slightly higher elevation than Carrie and a little further northeast. We still have some icicles on trees. The roads, however, are beginning to thaw. They are still asking us not to go out unless necessary, but I think that I could go out in a couple of hours and just watch for black ice. I think it will take another couple of hours on most of the hill outside of my house to make it safe.

I'm sorry to hear your Mother's down with the flu - even with her flu shot! I think this year's flu shot was rated 'moderately' effective, so I hope it keeps the flu away from you. I can certainly vouch that I know a lot of people with the flu of the new stomach virus - December and January have been tough.

Please take care of yourself!

Black ice--scary! Definitely a good idea to stay home and read.

I decided last year to read all the Agatha Christie books in order of publication. I read 3 and then sort of forgot about it...need to start it up again!

Sandy K

I don't know how much the general public knew about strychnine in 1920, but it might have seemed like common knowledge to Agatha Christie. She worked in a hospital dispensary during WWI and received some pharmaceutical training. According to her autobiography, she came up with the idea for The Mysterious Affair at Styles while working in the dispensary.

Nice review of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I never picked up on the little glitch about the strychnine info--good catch. I tend to barrel through mysteries sometimes because I just HAVE to know whodunnit.

Interesting tidbit about Christie getting the idea from working in the dispensary.

Sandy K

>127 cbl_tn: - 129

I think Carrie might be right about there being more awareness of strychnine by the general public at the time. I believe that it was used in very small quantities as a stimulant or medication - so perhaps the symptoms of a larger dose would be known to coroners / police / doctors?

>129 sandykaypax: Sorry! I should have known you've read her autobiography and would have known that. I do think it's possible that she was surrounded by people who would have known about the properties of strychnine since so many people volunteered in hospitals and cared for wounded/invalid soldiers during the war years.

Whoa, that's some big news. I have some Dutch heritage so I find this pretty interesting.

As for flu shots, the virus is prone to mutation so it's a bit of a crapshoot as to whether the flu shot they give out will be effective for the strain that ends up making the rounds.

That's interesting! What sort of reaction is there to the announcement? Mostly positive? I'd love to see the coronation ceremony.

That is interesting - I imagine it'll be quite a party! Thanks for sharing the information; I hope you'll keep us posted.

What an exciting time to be living in, Samantha! As someone who has absolutely no connection to the Netherlands, it seems she is doing the right thing and most importantly she has the support of her subjects. I think (again as a total outsider) there has been some controversy in the UK regarding whether Queen Elizabeth should have stepped aside for Charles.

Exciting news and changes to come, Samantha. I think it's lovely that Queen Beatrix gets to have some retirement years.

Beatrix and her family spent 5 years in Canada during WW II and so she holds a special place here.

Hi Samantha! I'm so happy that you enjoyed Pippa's book and good for you for trying one of the recipes. I had to return my book before I tried anything. I told my family, showed them the cover etc etc that this is what I want for my birthday. Hope it sunk in.
How exciting that your Queen is going to enjoy retirement. I found your information about inaugurations and royal stuff in general very interesting. I like seeing how things are done elsewhere. Soooo...........will there be a party on inauguration day, I'd mark my calendar :0)

Exciting news about the inauguration of your new king! I read on Yahoo news about Queen Beatrix deciding to step down. Good for her, I hope she enjoys her retirement. Although, I don't know if monarchs ever really retire...

Wet and stormy weather is good for soup!

Sandy K

I admire your restraint, Samantha. My family would gobble them all up the minute I had the icing on!

Your red velvet cupcakes look marvelous - I wish I had one!

Enjoy what's left of the weekend!

The cupcakes are lovely! However, red velvet has never been a favorite of mine. The color reminds me too much of some awful medicine I used to have to take as a child. The dosage was fairly large and it almost always made me sick to my stomach. I do love the icing, though!

Your red velvet cupcakes look great! I don't do much baking myself but I have bought red velvet cupcakes once or twice. I found them to be 1) not as sweet as I was expecting and 2) rather grainy in texture compared to other cupcakes. Overall, an interesting taste experience and kudos to you for making your own!

I hope you feel better soon!

Red velvet cupcakes are my daughter's favorite. I made them for our Superbowl party with homemade cream cheese frosting...yummo. Your TexMex quiche sounds quite good. Would you be up for sharing the recipe?

I hope you are feeling more the thing. I find February to be on the depressing side.

I had a very blah Monday, too. Tuesday has been an improvement - of course, it would almost have to be!

I hope your week is improving, too.

I hope you're back at 100% soon. Postponing the library trip is a good idea. I do hope you have enough books at home to tide you over until your next opportunity to hit the library.

If you don't feel like it, don't push it. I'm glad our library has e-books that I can download when I run out on trips and such. I'm never in danger of running out at home though!

Resting up over the weekend seems like a good idea. Always better not to push yourself before you're ready. :)

So sorry you haven't been well, Samantha, it's probably best that you do rest up over the weekend so you are ready to face the workplace on Monday. Take care of yourself.

Hi Samantha, I'm really impressed that you see a recipe and try it right away. I tear them out, stuff them in a cookbook and rarely give them a try.

My mom enjoyed State of the Onion and I just picked up Buffalo West Wing for her.

I hope you're having an enjoyable and lazy Sunday.

The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles sounds interesting.

Glad you're feeling so much better. :)

John Adams (and his son) are distant cousins. I can't remember which New England line of mine it is on, but I do remember seeing a connection with one of my ancestors in Gary Boyd's book.

Happy weekend, Samantha!

Sounds like a wise decision, even if it isn't easy.

#193 by @Samantha_kathy> It sounds like you've really thought things through, and this is the best decision for you now. And a good way to raise some extra cash which can only be helpful while you look for a job!

You have a lovely day planned! I hope you enjoy The Secret Adversary. I'm particularly fond of Tommy and Tuppence.

Very nice review of John Adams, Samantha!

Samantha, you've convinced me to move 'John Adams' up on my TBR pile. I thoroughly enjoyed the miniseries based on the book that came out a few years ago.

very nice!..... can't wait to find room to take a pic of mine and post..... it was made for a king sized bed so it is huge.... what do you plan to trim the edges with?

The quilt is looking good! That's a lovely shade of blue you've chosen.

I agree with Carrie; that's a lovely shade of blue. And I love the pattern — it's not too busy as some quilts can be (that's just my untutored self talking as I'm sure most people consider them to be beautiful). Thank you for sharing the photo, Samantha!

Hi Samantha, just had to stop lurking and tell you how beautiful your quilt is, I can see what a lot of work it must be as well. I love the light heartedness of a Tommy and Tuppence story, they are fun couple to read about!

Gorgeous looking quilt, Samantha - I'm looking forward to a photo of the finished product!

Very nice review of John Adams. I've been thinking I need to try the Presidential Challenge - it was just President's Day here and I'm certain there's a lot I don't know about the lot of them!

Thanks for sharing your Tex Mex Quiche recipe! I will let you know how the family likes it when I have a chance to try it out.

Very good review of John Adams. I really enjoyed that one and like you, I am reading the presidential biographies in order. I think I am enjoying them more because of it. Right now I am reading Ladies of Liberty because I didn't feel as though my James Madison biography gave me enough context of his life. Ladies is a good read too.

The quilt is quite nice. I'm not that great with needle and thread, but I'm even worse with a sewing machine. I can cross-stitch, but I'm too afraid to try quilting.

>211 Samantha_kathy: A slack week every once in a while isn't sooo bad. Give yourself a break over the weekend and head back to all the things on Monday. :)

You're so organized! I have to confess that most of my reading is spur of the moment - and I'm pretty happy that way. That doesn't stop me from admiring the organization of others!

How did the scapbooking class go? Distressed ink - it sounds like fun to me!

It just says you have a work style that works for you. In grad school I was always done stuff two or three days before everyone else and I had friends who would know to start a project when I had finished. However, we got similar grades. I say whatever style works for you is fine. :)

Pressure can be motivating! You'll get it done.