#HOHOHORAT Wrap-Up Post! This was the BEST Read-A-Thon I EVER participated in! + BLOG MENTIONS!

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Wrap-Up Post!
Yesterday I tried SO HARD to get this wrap-up Post typed late last night, but I fell asleep anyway! Don't you hate that! I wore myself out yesterday trying to get things weatherized as best as this 'wimp' here could! LOL! The Polar Vortex is moving in, and our windows are like paper! You can literally see the curtains move when the wind blows! I'll tell you you would never expect those plastic films that cover the windows would make such a difference, but they DO! The curtains don't BUDGE after I install that! It's not hard to install, either, but 'this' body has such a hard time! My neuro-muscle disease ends up trying to kill me! Ugh! I was waiting for the temps to drop to the low 50's in the daytime here so the wood would contract a little, but it never happened! Anyway . . . today it is now 34 degrees out, so thank GOD I got 2 windows covered because that IS an almost 20 degree DROP in temperature! OH!!! Plus, I also weather stripped the front door! I am physically feeling it today! I AM DEAD! Physically, and I almost can't move! LOL! I knew this would happen, but it NEEDED to be done. I knew I would feel like this, but there are only the 2 of us here to do things, so I had no choice in this one!
This weekend my son (my favorite son, and my ONLY son! LOL! I have a daughter, too, but she hasn't made it this way in MONTHS!!!) and his girlfriend came over!!! WOW!!! I LOVE HER!!!! Even though my son is ONLY 17, I PRAY THESE TWO FALL IN LOVE NOW, IT MAKES A MARK, AND LATER WHEN THEY GET OLDER, THEY CAN MARRY!!! You know, first love!!! It ALWAYS brings you back together, and if the circumstances are just right . . . you know! (GOOSEBUMPS!!!!!)  
SHE IS THE NICEST, KINDEST, DOWN-TO-EARTH, 'HAPPY' YOUNG LADY! "HAPPY" is the key word here because where he is living at this moment does NOT make him happy. :( That is another LONG story I don't want to bore you with, so along we move! Can you tell I'm divorced? Yep! LOL! 
So I'm not a procrastinator, just the weather didn't cooperate with me, and NO ONE would give up time to see their kids!!! NEVER!!!!!
And . . . 
The weather yesterday: LOW 60's! Unheard of for Michigan!
The weather right NOW: 34 degrees! COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
I was 'just on time'! It's still cold in here, but it's WAY better than what it could have been! We live in a manufactured home, which is GREAT! We only rent it, so it's in a park, and with that being said, at ONE TIME it was BEAUTIFUL!!! However, when the Recession/2nd Depression hit, they took in EVERY human 'body' known to man here, living OR dead, so you can imagine what this is like NOW! It's AWFUL! They don't care about the homes, and the PEOPLE! OMG!!! Between the music, the LOUD cars, the nutcases I''m NOT kidding here!!! I could NOT sit outside ONCE this ENTIRE SUMMER (there is only one place to sit outside if you want shade) because there is a NUTJOB living next door to me!! If he sees you outside, he SITS IN HIS WINDOW AND STARES AT YOU!!!! WEIRDO!!!! CREEPY!!!! YES!!! WE WANT TO MOVE!!!! However, the timing is off. We need to get ahead more so than what we are now to feel financially 'safe' before making such a HUGE move! The time will come! Patience!

This Challenge has been one of the BEST (and most fun!) Challenges I have EVER participated in! HUGE thanks go to our Sponsors! We have Caffeinated Book Reviewer AND Book Shelfery!

These were our Rule/Guidelines as to what was we were required to do:

Mandatory requirements:

• Link up and post Goal/update post
• Read or listen to at least one holiday or winter themed book/audio
• Participate in at least one challenge

Earn Extra Entries:

• Participate in challenges
• Follow hosts
• Attend twitter party Sunday November 9, 2014 at 4pm (EST)
• Read a second book

I did the Mandatory Requirements AND the Extra Entries, or at least I gave it my ALL!
So, this is what I got done! I got one Novella read and 1 book of about 300 pages. I have around 100 left to go. I didn't do much reading it seems, but what I DID do were the Challenges!!!! So while I was at the Challenge Stops, I found and made some GREAT NEW BLOGS AND FRIENDS!
The Twitter party was WONDERFUL FUN! That was my FIRST Twitter party!!! LOVED it!! If you get the chance to do one - you MUST!
Guess what? I WON A $10 AMAZON GIFT CARD AT THE TWITTER PARTY!!!! WOO-HOO!!!!! ANOTHER BOOK COMING MY WAY!!!!
Thank YOU to the person who sponsored that and gave it to me. You REALLY made my day!!! 

This is what I read:

Home for Christmas by Lia Fairchild - AND . . . 

Christmas in July by Debbie Mason

This is the 2nd book that I still have about 100 pages left to read. I didn't realize this was a 400 page book when I first started reading it! LOL!

The Challenges:
Wow! They were GREAT! Let me tell you about them!
One blog had us UNSCRAMBLE THE NAMES OF CHRISTMAS BOOKS!  (That was a HARD ONE! WHEW! "SHE" MADE US WORK, AND WORK HARD!)
Another blog had us look at photos and gave us dashes so we could solve it! UGH! I got really hung up on a few there! For instance, I KNOW this HAD to be an Edgar Allan Poe books (?) but Christmas??? I think I got hung up on the photo of the raven! It was a photo of a man with an ax over his head as if he was ready to kill a bird below him on a tree stump - you know how they do that! The 2nd picture was a black raven! UGH! I could NOT solve that one!!! It had a LOT of dashes for name of the book, too. I'm still stumped!
Another blog did a Mad Libs puzzle! It was funny! It was called something like "Let's Build a Snowman"! We filled out this long list of what it asked for! Then we read our story! I don't know if it was saved on their blog because I couldn't figure out how to get BACK to their blog from the Mad Libs site! Oh well, it was FUN!
Another blog had us make 3 puzzles!!! THAT TOOK TIME!!!!!!! I fell asleep while trying to solve them, but that was MY fault! I should have gotten up and moved around! Still, it was FUN solving them!! Another blog took mercy on us! Thank GOSH! She just wanted to know what we were going to read - I LOVED HER!!!! Thank you SOOOO much if you are reading this!!! That was GREAT because frankly, we NEEDED the break!!
And there were a few other blogs with Challenges that were EXCELLENT! I just want to thank ALL of them! 

Here are ALL the blogs that had ULTIMATE Challenges for the Read-A-Thon! This is copied and pasted from the Caffeinated Book Reviewer because her list was the easiest to read 'for me'! 
So a HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF THESE BLOGS LISTED 'HERE' JUST BELOW FOR EVERY SINGLE CHALLENGE AND FOR HAVING THE ROCKING BLOGS YOU DO!! (I have included the LINKS to ALL of your blogs, the first two who sponsored the Read-A-Thon and the rest are ALL the blogs who posted Challenges on their blogs! No links to the CHALLENGES since they are over and ONLY for the participants of the Read-A-Thon itself.) 

EVERYONE, PLEASE! GO VISIT THEIR BLOGS AND CHECK THEM OUT! WHY? BECAUSE THEY ROCK! Let them know that Laurie from Laurie Here - Cont Fiction and MORE (or sometimes just Laurie Here!) sent you over!
             
             Kim @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer - Host
             Jennifer @ Book Shelfery - Host

• Bea @ Bea's Book Nook 
• Trish@ Between My Lines 
• Sophia @ Bookwyrming-Thoughts 
• April @ My Shelf Confessions 
• Melissa & Truffles @ Mochas, Mysteries and Meows  
• Ginny @ Gin’s Book Notes
• Jennifer @ The Book Nympho 
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