Jane -- Wondering how you are doing today?

:grouphug: praying

Last night I was determined to finish "Red Moon" by Benjamin Percy but fell asleep with 100 pages to go. Not loving it but do want to finish to see how it ends. Hopefully tonight. Needless to say this one won't be listed as a top 5. ;) Due to my early bedtime I was wide awake at 5 am so I finished off a couple of books that I have been reading on the kindle without disturbing my dh. :) "Gone" the latest in the Michael Bennett series by James Patterson was not bad. I like the 10 adopted children being raised by a widowed police detective, his priest grandfather, and the Irish nanny, storyline. An enjoyable read. I also finished a very light vampire book by Lyndsay Sands called "Bite Me if You Can". It is #6 in her Argeneau Vampire series which is good fun if you enjoy vampires done with a bit of comedy.

Yes, we all count and review them. I have also found the BaW to be a great place to get an opinion about books for the dc's. Some books other's review appear to be something the dc's would love (but not necessarily something that I want to read first) and it is easy to ask if it would be appropriate for my dc. Ds has Gulp in his stack currently which is a perfect example of something that he wants to read and I had it screened by BaW. :lol:

This is a fyi ....We mailed mine in it's box to the UK. Cost $120 to mail several years ago.

2013 was my first year doing the BaW thread. I can't believe all the wonderful new books I have tried thanks to the people on that thread. I still read quite a bit of light and fluffy and have found some great new authors for those. I have also read some amazing books that I never would have tried if a read along challenge hadn't been happening. There is no pressure to read anything but it is fun to join in when several are reading the same book.

I never used Shurley 1 but have done Shurley 2,4,6 which all ran on a similar schedule. My dc's doing different levels were able to do the chant part together and the topic ie. complete sentences etc was generally the same. Each level was just more in depth. I would try it with what you have. If you need it to be harder after FLL you can adjust then. I think it will be alright. We did FLL1 also(I think ds did FLL while dd did Shurley 2 but it was long ago) and things did overlap but that was good, we built on it with Shurley.

:grouphug: Praying for your family

Tress -- Dd hasn't been able to find a literature Coursera that really suits her starting in January. There is a course named the Modern and the Postmodern from Wesleyan which is the only "maybe" we have found. She did the Ancient Greek course from Wesleyan last summer and really liked it. She has signed up for some math and science ones. Archeology's Dirty Little Secrets and an Intro to Forensics are starting later in the spring.

I read this a few weeks ago. I loved the fact I couldn't figure out how the number part was happening. I went on to read the second in the series. Not as clever(I did figure quite a bit of that one out) but not bad. I have the next one waiting to be read. Looking forward to it.

:grouphug: praying

One of the dc's had this one on their camera. When I announced I needed an avitar they started hunting for something hive/bee themed.

I have been reading Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain for awhile and finally fnished it. The first in this series, Heartsick, became quite good at the end so I kept going, slowly. Well, I do not plan to put myself through another one, the ick factor is pretty high for me. Mainly psychological but not my type of suspense novel.

After much discussion about which one to read I finished Georgette Heyer's Talisman Ring. I quite enjoyed it. :) I had to laugh because I have waited at least three weeks for my hold on Cotillion to arrive. Last night when I went to download it I got a already in your kindle library message, it must have been free at some point. Anyway I could have easily started with Cotillion apparently. Oh, well.

One easy way to pracice is baby sweaters. I give many (OK most) new babies a hand knit sweater. Personal tradition which dh happily embraces because all babies should be celebrated. He takes sweaters to clients and business associates. ;) I am sure many end up in drawers but many seem to be treasured. With people having children later in life I frequently hear how glad the new mom is to have something handmade because their favourite aunt etc. would have made her baby a sweater but is dead. I think a friend's little sister has sent 5 or 6 pictures of her baby in my sweater. I never know who will love them so.... The sweaters mail cheaply too. Baby knitting is an easy way to become accomplished. You can practice on a small scale before moving on to larger garmets.

Sounds like a fun one! Even better the e library has it. :)

After reading other's comments I want to add a couple more thoughts on completing multiple books in a week. My Goodread's account really has helped me in so many ways. First it helps me keep track of where I am in multiple books. Lack of progress in one tends to stick out and I believe I am getting far better at abandoning the blah ones. Which ultimately means I read the others quicker. The count there has also kept me motivated. A side benefit is I keep track of dd easily now with Goodreads. She posts her "want to reads" and I can source them when I have time. Really easy. This thread has also really inspired me to read different things. I think I have added "the different" on top of my old usual which has been great and has probably upped the count. :lol: I have also found some great new paranormal and mystery writers which is my norm so things have been a bit more fun. I have no idea how many books I read in 2012 but I do know I have really enjoyed what I read this past year. A large part is due to this thread. So thank you to everyone here, especially to Robin for keeping us organized. :)

I normally read several a week and read relativity fast if the prose is uncomplicated and the subject matter predicable. If you look at my book postings you will notice roughly 75% of my reading fits that description. ;) I also get some of my hard copies in large print for reading in the car. Much easier with odd lighting etc. I normally have at least two books going, normally three. Different genres and subject matter. One quick read, frequently on my kindle which goes everywhere I go. I also have two kindles so one on each floor which are kept synced. I read while cooking etc. Also in car when dh driving. We do one family field trip of at least an hour drive each way every week which equals one book done. I haven't been sleeping well for a while unfortunately. I keep the kindle fire beside the bed to entertain myself. I try to read then as opposed to playing online. We have an hour or so each morning where everyone does their online stuff. My dc's do codeacademy and a couple other educational sites which reward points for daily participation. I frequently read hardcovers then. The only other dedicated reading time is an hour or so before bed. But I do read as opposed to watch tv lately. My knitting and quilting projects have been very limited this year. My dd does school pretty independently but ds still needs me to be there. That means that I sometimes get to read a few pages while he solves an example problem. :) My level of pages read depends on what he is doing that day and on the amount of housework etc.

"Simple" is great. This is the brand everyone recommended to us when we moved to the UK for sensitive skin. Good basic shampoo, lotion, soap......Sold all over here.

Dd and I both use Clinique. I have used it since my early twenties and honestly don't spend that much because I always buy when there is a bonus and use most of them. Dd uses my samples primarily. ;) We both really like the super city block a very light tinted sun screen which is one item that I buy.

Shirley English does it. Very much to a formula. I think all three that we have done 2, 4, 6, had some version of the build up. I know 6 did five paragraph papers. I would not buy Shirley in order to get that portion but if you know someone with a copy I would borrow it. Take a good look at Scholastic, they should have something reasonably priced.

I read the latest JP Beaumont last night, Second Watch by JA Jance. Totally enjoyed it. I have been busy rereading the series in order and am on number 4 or so, this made it a bit shocking to find my attractive hero having double knee replacements! This one was sort of a prequel with tons of flashbacks all extremely well explained. Robin and I had a bit of a discussion if these were stand alone a couple of weeks ago, they are.

Just want to mention that we prefer these guides to MP for henle. http://www.motherofdivinegrace.org/curriculum/syllabus/id/52. We did the first MP guide after LC2 then we found these.

I finished Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger which is the first in a prequel series to Soulless. Written for the YA market but didn't notice anything that really puts it beyond a Harry Potter fan's sensibilities. The lesson on how to disable vampires was pretty funny -- one option was to ruin his clothing. ;) It was a rather gentle introduction to the Steampunk genre. I enjoyed "seeing" Sidheag (Lord Macon's troublesome granddaughter) and Vieve as teens floating around in their dirigible boarding school over Dartmoor. The next of the series is waiting for me to pick it up. :)

The Inspector Chen mystery looks interesting. My library has it so let us know if it is good. I am looking forward to the read alongs. :)