Sunday Post (October 19)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday funday, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week started with a 6 hour condensed training for a 2-day Sheltered Instruction PLUS training that I had in the spring. My students took their narratives the remainder of the way through the publishing stage and we embarked on the journey of plot and plot development.

This weekend I was doing all of my last-minute packing for the drive to Ft. Benning, Georgia. It will be the second trip for my mother, youngest brother and me, but the first for my oldest brother (who we were driving to GA to see graduate four years ago). We will leave after our fraternal organization’s meeting on Tuesday night. The Turning Blue ceremony is on Thursday and the graduation is on Friday at the Infantryman Museum. We will be staying the same place we did last time, which was very convenient and right inside the Georgia state line. My brothers are in charge of making sure my mom has packed everything she absolutely needs, because it’s a nearly 20 minute drive out to the house and it is my aim that we will be out of Texas by midnight.

Today is also my parents’ 29th wedding anniversary! To celebrate, here is a recent photo of them dancing together in the very place that they met, to the song that they danced to the first time (Silver Wings by Merle Haggard), which is also their wedding song. However, they have been together for over 35 years. They met when my mom was in 7th grade and have been together ever since. (My dad is 8 years older than my mom.)

My mom was with a friend at the local dance hall, which doubles as a venue rental (parties, weddings, rehearsals, etc.). My mom was supposed to be at a friend’s house. In a small town, it’s not hard to sneak in places you’re not supposed to. The story goes (according to my mom’s said friend, who started me out with all of my teaching materials last year) that my dad asked my mom to dance about 15 times and she turned him down every time. All of my mom’s friends kept telling her to just dance with the poor guy. She finally did, and a little over 10 years later they got married.

~ Last Week on G1000W ~

• OCTOBER OUTRAGE! Review: Murder at the Brightwell
• OCTOBER OUTRAGE! Author Interview: Stan Swanson
• WWW Wednesday
• OCTOBER OUTRAGE! Guest Post: Danny and the Viking Funeral
• Feature Follow Friday

~ This Week on G1000W ~

• OCTOBER OUTRAGE! Guest Post: Recipe for Crime by Madhvi Ramani
• OCTOBER OUTRAGE! Review: Acts of Violence by Ross Harrison
• WWW Wednesday
• So Behind! Review-a-thon Wrap Up
• Review: Ten Thankful Turkeys 
• Feature Follow Friday

~ Other Open Giveaways on G1000W ~

• Lobo Goes to the Galapagos (C.L. Murphy) – ends 10/23
• Roxy Rogers: Your Destiny is Calling (Emily Siskin-Toy) – ends 10/30

~ New Arrivals to Land of 1000 Wonders ~

I bought the remaining books in the Bloody Jack series with two gift cards to complete my collection. This is a series that I fell in love with in college, and I was very saddened to learn that the author, L.A. Meyer, recently passed away. 😦

   

I also have received a few children’s books for review, and a few for upcoming blog tours.

              

I also won this awesome prize pack from author Megan Crewe! It’s really nice coming home to find a Kindle in your mailbox that you weren’t expecting!

~ Around Town in the Spotlight ~

Last week was a real bummer for me, and it seemed things were dragging with quite a few of us in general. I, who fully admit to having seasonal disfunctionality disorder, believe it is the change in the weather. Fall is officially here!

I want to give a shout out to Carrie at The Mad Reviewer for hosting an open promotions post! Go share your goods! 😉

• Parajunkee shares the 2014 ReadPink Penguin Campaign
• Kelley provides tips for moving your blog 
• Parajunkee shares ten signs that you might be a book junkee
• Julie is writing her way out of a cardboard box!
• Kelly recaps her first visit to NY Comic Con
• Laura shares her bookshelf tag
• Sab is agog over Amy Tan and Chang-Rae Lee at the Philippine Literary Festival
• Nicole calls for more Pride and Prejudice retellings and needs your help 
• Asti admits she loves the maps in books…but doesn’t use them 
• Parajunkee gives Twitter tips and tricks
• Rebecca questions what is too weird for paranormal and fantasy romance
• Kat from Perusing Bookshelves details a DIY Halloween bookmark over at The Book Addict’s Guide
• Laura queries how we answer when asked for our favorite book

I also stumbled upon this article from The Huff Post for Women about 31 Life Lessons From Romance Novels.