Just a Quick Note

photo of a flat lay on a red fabric background. the flat lay items include book cards, bookmarks, a pen, and a book, On My Knees by the author, Meredith Wild
Because my memory is so abysmal, I forgot I won a giveaway on goodreads and so I had a mystery parcel at the post today that was from author, Meredith Wild, and she included some goodies! A signed copy of On My Knees the first of The Bridge series, bookmarks, a pen (I love pens), and a little card for another of her books that I HAD to add to my TBR list.
I also printed out some bookmarks I found on pinterest - I have an entire board dedicated to bookmarks. What is wrong with me?  I attached the bookmarks to some colourful cardstock and did a dreadful job of cutting them. I'll definitely stick to ordering bookmarks on Etsy or picking them up at the bookstore. And I'll stay on the crafty side of arts and crafts. Art hates me.

December in Disney

We all remember when we were little and our parents would bundle us up at like 4 or 5 in the evening and fasten us into the car and drive to the fancy part of town to drive around oohing and ahhing over the Christmas lights, right? One of my earliest memories is of my mother and grandmother piling four of my cousins, my foster sister, my brother and myself into the van (totally illegal but whatever), buried us in sleeping bags and we'd drive the four miles into town. We'd pick up hot chocolate at Aunt Laurie Ann's store and we'd turn the radio to whatever station was already playing Christmas music to sit in the parking lot to wait. Then, at 6:30, everybody would turn their Christmas lights on. One house after another. We'd drive around all over town until about 8:30 and we'd start the drive home. And we'd do this every weekend from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Everybody would camp out in our extra large living room, and we'd spend the weekend together while my cousin's parental units went Christmas shopping. Well, 20 years later, we live in Florida instead of on the Canadian border in Vermont. That means absolutely no snow whatsoever. But living right outside of Disney World, we're treated to their nightly fireworks display. And sitting outside with my dogs, watching it, I learned something weird about my freaky dogs. Except for my oldest who's going blind and has issues with fireworks (he was tortured by a boy with fireworks when he was a baby), my dogs love the lights. Last year, my mom and I got it in our heads that they'd love seeing the Christmas lights and they did. They were even more excited when I set up the tree - something they'd never seen. They had lights at home! Nikki actually spent all December staring at the tree whenever the lights were on. We haven't gotten the tree out yet, but we're totally taking Zeus, Nikita, and Skädi out for a ride tonight. We're going to drive up to this cutesy village-esque town for their town centre lights. But before we do that, we're going to drive down to the post office so I can pick up my books that arrived today. Honestly, that's the part I'm excited about. There is nothing like the feeling getting new books. Even better, I have no idea which books arrived (I never do because I always forget what I ordered), so it's kind of like a little taste of Christmas every time I pick up a package from the post. And considering how many books I'm ordering this week, there's going to be a lot of Christmas tasting as I wrap them in penguin wrapping paper and put them under the tree, unread and teasing me for the next 24 days. I've got to go load the truck up with canines now. Until next time, have a happily ever after.

The Start of Something New

Hello, duckies! I'm Maggie and this is my book blog. Quite the catchy title, yes? It was almost 'Maggie Reads Books' but my best friend totally vetoed it. I recently decided to expand my book reviews from my private social media accounts and Amazon to more public settings. Meaning a new Instagram account dedicated solely to bookstagram posts, a Facebook Page, a Twitter, a Goodreads, and this blog. Starting in the new year, I'll be working to post a book review every week or so - always on a Friday because weekends are family time. This way, I'll have time to read the book to be reviewed and summarise it, study, work, and read for pure entertainment purposes as well. If for some reason I need to have some mental health time, which does happen with my disabilities, I'll hopefully have a draft waiting in the wings to cover. I'm autistic and sometimes I have days where I'm not very communication-friendly, so while I'll respond to comments and messages as soon as possible all the time, some days 'as soon as possible' will be a smidgen longer. I think that's all I wanted to say for now. Until next time, have a happily ever after.