A Thousand Words

I love to read.  I always have.  My parents used to yell at me to stop reading at night to go to bed.  Granted, mandated reading during grad school stopped me from leisure reading for even a year after I graduated!  Now especially that house work has calmed down - I have been enjoying my porch swing and good books again.

I do not have a standard MO for acquiring reading materials - I use the Kindle (both bought books and using the lending library), the public library, and buying used books from Amazon.  Reading over a book a week, I prefer free and cheap is a second best. 

With Amazon Prime, you get a free Prime book every month - while the selection is not great, they now have the full Harry Potter series as Prime. 

For Atlanta-Fulton County Library systems, you can "check-out" electronic library books for a period of up to 14 days - they have a growing collection (downside - they also have a growing population of readers so the wait times can be lengthy).

Next, I turn to used books on Amazon - for older books, I can usually find them about $4-$5 a piece. 

For the new books, I generally turn to the Kindle.  I am not known for my patience, so when I am in the middle of a series, waiting for the next installation, I have to get in on my Kindle the day it comes out. 

I resisted buying a Kindle or any type of tablet/e-reader for a long time.  However, a mix weekly travel with the need to take at least 2 books with you for the week - need for space won me over.  I now actually prefer the Kindle to actual paperbacks.  I can use one hand and you can see it well in most lights (no glare).  I prefer it over my iPad - for reading. 

So what have I read this month? 
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azaban
Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Freed
Shadow of Night
Harvest Moon (Virgin River Series)
Dead Reckoning: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel

What is upcoming on the reading list?
More Harry Potter
Divergent
Insurgent (if I like Divergent)

Check out my Library Page for my reviews and fav reads. 
Let me know if you have any suggestions for must reads!

Cork It.

Hi. My name is Suzanne. And I have a Pinterest problem.  Pinterest makes me feel as though I can build, cook, or create anything cheaper and just as cute (or tasty) as something that I could buy.

Sometimes it costs just as much.  Sometimes it is WAY cheaper.  Sometimes it tastes awesome.  Sometimes we get Chinese takeout.  Sometimes it is cute.  Sometimes it goes in the trash.

Even though I have had a few failures along the way - I love trying.  I like the satisfaction of making something, maybe I get that from being raised on a farm.

So when I needed a cork board to pin up things that didn't need to be filed away immediately in my office, and the cheaply framed cork boards were not an option, but neither were the super expensive ones - I turned to Amazon and Pinterest.

I originally planned on just buying cork squares and spacing 4 of them out (without frames or anything).  I ordered a pack from Amazon (I love Amazon).  After getting them and starting to place them, I didn't like the idea.  Now I have all these cork squares, no plan and still no cork board.


Then, I remembers that I had this old piece of art - I was going to donate it or sell it, but I decided to re-purpose it.  I mean if I messed it up - I wouldn't really be out anything, right?

I unscrewed and pulled out all of the nails/backing for the frame.  I removed the print and the glass.  I replaced the print section with the cork squares (I had to cut them down).  I put the backing back down and went to town on it with my staple gun (every girl should own one).

Project: Success!  I love the frame plus matting look around the cork board.  I put post-it notes on the matting part.  I now have a really cute cork board that looks nice enough to have it in front of me all day while I work.  And, the best part, it was under $10 and only took about 30 minutes to make!