Sunday Salon: November 18, 2012: Shredding, Sign-Ups and Reading

Hope you all have had a nice weekend! Mine has been a mix of getting together with family and friends and chores. Actually chore (singular) - I have been a shredding ninja all day today. My shredder gave out a few years ago and I got into the bad habit of stockpiling items to be shredded in bags that I would strategically stash throughout my apartment with grand plans of bringing them somewhere to be securely shredded. Now that I purchased a new shredder, I paid penance today for that habit. The shredder has overheated a number of times and the pic below just shows a small product of my work (there were tons more bags!)

It really makes me think about the waste created with junk mail - I have done a lot to take myself off lists and to go paperless with a lot of billing - I cannot imagine if I did not do that. Corporate America - quit it with the paper! Anyhow - I have opened up lots of storage in my apartment and am free of the paper! I vow to stay on top of it from now on . . . .
  
Sign-Ups
 There are some great events around the book blogging world this time of year. One of my favorites is Virtual Advent. As a kid, I loved those advent calendars and this event is a slightly grown-up version of that. Each day between Dec 1st and Dec 24th, a blogger posts about some part of their holiday tradition - recipes, crafts, stories, etc. Last year I posted about my ornament collection and still need to figure out what I will post about this year.

Trish from Love, Laughter and Insanity has been hosting a Pin It and Do It challenge for a few months now to prompt people to actually do some of the things they obsessively pin on Pinterest (says obsessive pinner). I am about as far from crafty as one can get and have a slew of half-finished or poorly executed craft projects in my past but I am hosting the family for Christmas this year and would love to include a few of the great ideas I see on Pinterest. So I am joining the Holiday Pin It and Do It at the "Timid Pinner" level which means I will pin and do 1-3 items (I am ambitious but not masochistic).

 I am excited to see that Jenn from Jenn's Bookshelves and Jennifer from Literate Housewife are hosting Thankfully Reading this year! It's a relaxed celebration of reading on Thanksgiving weekend where participants check-in throughout the weekend and read as they can amidst the cooking, celebrating and eating! I am coming close to the finish line on my 2012 challenges and will, as per usual, use this weekend to try to make a dent in what is left!  


Reading

This week I finished the audiobook of The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani. I am late to this one - it's been popular with the bloggers all year - but I loved, loved loved it! I was sorry to say goodbye to the characters when the book ended. I also hosted a book club meeting for Little Bee. On the whole, everyone praised the writing and liked the story although some had problems with violence that makes up the backdrop of the novel. The group is reading The Walnut Tree for their next meeting. Have any of you read it or others by the author?
 

Hope you all have a great (and thankfully short!) week!