The Frozen lake #wordlesswednesday

Until next time,

Linking this post to #wordlesswednesday hosted by Natasha and Esha.

Fun & Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials by Kimberly McLeod - [Book Review]

Book Details:

Title : Fun & Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials
Author : Kimberly McLeod
Genre : Children's book, Arts and Crafts
Print Length : 160 pages
Publisher : Page Street Kids
Recommended Age :6 to 11 years
Source : An advance review copy from the author

Blurb:


***INCLUDES 12 CUT-OUT TEMPLATES!***

Exciting, Eco-Conscious Crafts with Stuff You Already Have
Transform paper rolls, egg cartons, newspaper and cardboard into colorful decorations, amazing wearable masks, hats and jewelry or even sturdy desk organizers, puzzles and paint palettes. Get ready to unleash your imagination with 60 unique crafts―with something for all ages―including:

Homemade Kaleidoscope
Build Your Own Marble Maze
Cool Superhero Mask
Dinosaur Terrarium
Indoor Mini-Garden
Awesome Cardboard Castle

Kimberly McLeod, creator of The Best Ideas for Kids®, provides a varied selection of budget-friendly, eco-conscious projects that are great for imaginary play, bedroom decorations, gift giving and more! You’ll be so proud of the projects you’ve created and customized with your own hands―and they are as fun to make as they are to play with!

My Review :

A wonderful book I say, to engage kids for hours and hours. There are around 60 cool projects that kids can do with simple, easily available and recycled materials like paper scraps, cardboard, toilet paper rolls, ice pop sticks etc.,

Both of my kids aged 5 years and 8 years really loved each and every craft in the book. The photos with detailed instructions are helpful to make the craft. 

My sons tried Weather puzzle with ice pop sticks, three season tree with paper scraps and a hand fan with ice pop sticks. All were easy and they could do without help/ supervision.Crafts with egg cartons are super cute. 

Here are some of the crafts I loved from the book:

Yes, we have many to try yet. Good fun activity for a few days after school and the homework.

My Rating: 5/5

I loved this book and I recommend to all the parents of kids who encourage creativity. 

PS: I have received this advance review copy from the author and this is my honest opinion of the book.

Purchase Link:

Amazon

Until next time,

The Mahasiddha Field by Dwai Lahiri - Cover Reveal

~ Cover Reveal ~ 

The Mahāsiddha Field

by Dwai Lahiri

About the Book:

The world of Asuras and Dévas is considered mythological. Indian mythology is replete with tales of Dévas battling the Asuras constantly. The interesting thing to note is that whether it is a God or an incarnation of a deity in human form, aka an Avatār, there was also a human element involved in these stories. The teachers of the Dévas (gods) and the Asuras were human sages, known as Rishis.



Find out what happens when seemingly unconnected individuals get drawn into a world of suspense and action, as mythology collides with their world in the book 'The Mahāsiddha Field', the first in a new sci-fi/fantasy series!



An elderly wandering mendicant in South India, two young Indian-American men, two soldiers from the Indian Army and a mysterious sage from high up in the Himalayas are thrown together in an adventure unlike any other; as a most unlikely adversary leaps out of the world of Indian Mythology to challenge their beliefs, their sanity and their courage.





About the Author:

Dwai is a long time practitioner of the Daoist internal arts with a focus on Taijiquan. He is also an eager student and practitioner of Advaita Vedānta, Kashmir Shaivism and Yoga. He enjoys being part of the artistic process in various forms - as a writer, musician and a martial artist. The Arts are an excellent medium for spiritual practice and he has dedicated more than two decades of his life in the quest for spiritual clarity.



He started writing in the early 2000s in the public domain, under the pen name ‘Rudra’ for ‘sulekha.com’, which then was the preeminent online literary portal for the Indian Diaspora.  In 2007 he started the online journal ‘The Medha Journal’ where over 1000 articles---the compiled work of 96 authors including himself are available for readers today, on various topics ranging from Indic studies, philosophy to poetry and fiction.



In the worldly domain, he is a software engineer for a Silicon Valley software company, and an engineer by training. He likes to think of himself as humble bridge between many disparate worlds-- science and spirituality, art and technology, Eastern and Western cultures.



 He lives in the suburbs of Chicago in Illinois, USA with his wife, daughter and two dogs.



Contact the Author:

Blog * Twitter * LinkedIn * Quora




Until next time,

Sprinkled with Snow #ThursdayTreeLove

Until next time,

Linking this post to #ThursdayTreeLove blog hop hosted by Parul.

A beautiful sculpture #wordlesswednesday

Did you see how beautifully this sculpture is created? As if the boy is actually pouring water over his head ? This pic was taken at Princeton, New Jersey a few years ago. My entry for this week's #wordlesswednesday 🙂

Until next time,

Linking this post to #wordlesswednesday hosted by Natasha and Esha.

My Gratitude List for October 2019 #GratitudeCircle

This is my Thank you note for the last month which has been wonderful. We had a birthday celebration at home and I got a lot of free time, especially Me time. 

Here are the things that I am grateful for in October :

Birthday Celebration :

We celebrated the birthday of our younger son at home. Earlier, I used to feel nervous arranging parties at home and talking to guests, but now-a-days, I am enjoying these parties more.

Kids enjoyed playing with play-doh and I enjoyed arranging everything for the play-doh party. I shopped various tools like cutters, shapes to mold the play-doh to different shapes. 

Netflix :

I had an amazing time in October watching many shows and movies on Netflix. I took a break from work and so, got more time to enjoy the quality shows of Netflix.

Here is a post about our favorite shows on Netflix to watch with kids.

I loved 'Dark' which is a mystery, 'The Haunting of Hillhouse' which is an emotional drama and horror, 'Riverdale', a drama and many thriller movies like 'The Ritual'.

Me time :

I could blog more in October and read books. Here are some of my recent reviews:

Hallowed Ground is a mystery and fantasy, which I loved. 

The palace of Illusions is the best book that I have read recently as I love mythology. Chitra Banerjee is my favorite author from the time I read her book "Before I visit the Goddess".

I have learnt a lot about social media strategies in October and experimented with Pinterest and Instagram more. Thanks to the tips from Shailaja V, I have also improved on creating graphics with Canva.

I couldn't travel anywhere though and couldn't get time to paint. 

Teaching Dance :

This time of the year is our Annual Diwali event in Colorado Springs. I took this opportunity to teach Dance to 8 year old kids' group a Odisha folk song. It was a lot of fun of course. 

Kids looked amazing in the final event and everyone danced without forgetting anything. 

Cooking :

Even though I don't enjoy cooking, I had nice opportunities to love it in October. I bought an instant pot and experimented a lot. Biryani, Pasta, Ghee, Spinach Dal, Mutton curry - the list goes on.. and my experiments are continuing. The Instant pot is worth the money and Iam thankful to all the cooking videos available on Youtube to cook with instant pot.

I have also started OPOS method of cooking and I am experimenting with this style as well. Read more about OPOS cooking here.

So, that's it about my October. How was yours? 

Happy November to you all. 

In the next week, we have Thanksgiving break here, so more family time and fun for us. I am not much interested in shopping, but if you are, check this post on Black Friday shopping tips. 

Until next time,

Linking this post to #GratitudeCircle hosted by Vidya Sury.

The Aberrant Sword by Rebecca Ripley - Book Excerpt

Purchase link:
Amazon



Excerpt :

My head is pounding. My last few braincells are playing death metal drums in my skull. I try to open my eyes, but I feel like all energy has been drained from every fibre of my body.

It is the warmth that hits me first. Is that a blanket covering me? No, it isn’t. It is much shorter. I whimper as I try to open my eyes again. “Mom”? I whisper, trying to make sense of the situation, trying to get to grips with what happened.

My hands try to grab the blanket and touch warm leather. My eyes shoot open as a whiff of an unfamiliar cologne sets me on edge. I can now clearly see a little battery powered heater next to me and I do not recognise the black leather jacket covering my shoulders.

I try to sit up and recognise the ceiling of the ship’s ballroom. I let my eyes focus on the large mermaid lounging between the shells that is painted in a gold leaf frame. But we are high up. I am on one of the balconies overlooking the ballroom. “Gina?” I ask with a rasping voice, trying to find my cousin. She’s a blabbermouth. She would be all over me by now. Where is she?

That’s when my eyes were pulled to the shadow behind the heater. To the thing stirring in the shadows. My survival skills kick in. Fight or flight. I try to grab something to defend myself, my hands and fingers looking for a cold piece of metal or maybe a big shard of glass.

And then it steps out of the shadows. He is tall. I would even call him handsome. He is probably not much older than me but it’s his glowing red eyes that have me scuttle backwards, almost knocking over the heater. My heart is beating in my chest as I see some scrap metal in the corner of my eye.

I throw off the leather jacket and roll onto my side, lunging towards what was to become my only chance of defending myself. My fingers close around the cold and rusty surface when I feel the metal escape my touch.

For a second I stare at the boy pulling it from my grip, fast as lightning. My hands grab his trousers as I try to launch myself up and towards him, hands ready to take him by the throat. But that is when I feel the sharp pain in my ankle, forcing me down onto the makeshift bed again.

The boy looks at me and scoffs. “Another bleeding hunter. Oh joy.” He looks down at me and pulls a little old stool from where he was sitting in the shadows before I woke up. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so by now. Don’t you think?” He says, staring at me with his jaw clenched. “I have literally not a single shred of interest in fighting you. Especially not as I saved you from drowning not thirty minutes ago.” He rolls his eyes and sighs. “Although I am already pretty sorry I did that.”

Until next time,

Chimney Rock, Nebraska #WordlessWednesday

Until next time,

Linking this post to #wordlesswednesday hosted by Natasha and Esha.

The Last thing she said by Lauren Carr - [Book Review]

"Too many twists and turns to easily share about this book. Nevertheless, Carr has pulled off another "hit" that kept me reading in one setting until the clues were so well together that the villain fell into our laps...or Chris's, LOL Carr has put a lot into the book beyond the mysteries this time...Characters enjoyed chocotinis, visited book stores...and even blundered into getting engaged (the ring had been purchased 4 months ago)... But, for me, a special thank you for the political spoof at a time when politics at the national level is devastating, gave me a laugh and lightened the load of it all!" - Review by Glenda Bixler, Book Reader's Heaven 

 

Book Details:



Book Title:  The Last Thing She Said (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery #3) by Lauren Carr

Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +),  386 pages

Genre:  Mystery

Publisher:  Acorn Book Services

Release date:   July 22, 2019

Formats available for purchase:  paperback, ebook, audiobook (audible & itunes)

Tour dates: October 7 to November 15, 2019

Content Rating:  PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!

Book Description:

“I’m working on the
greatest mystery ever,” was the last thing noted mystery novelist
Mercedes Livingston said to seven-year-old Chris Matheson before walking
out of Hill House Hotel never to be seen again.

For decades, the writer’s fate
remained a puzzling mystery until an autographed novel and a letter put a
grown-up Chris Matheson on the trail of a cunning killer. With the help
of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist
in their own field of investigation, Chris puts a flame to this cold
case to uncover what had really happened that night Mercedes Livingston
walked out of Hill House Hotel. Watch out! The clues are getting hot!

Buy the Book:

Amazon.com *
Add to Goodreads

My Review

"The Last thing she said" is a crime investigation thriller. I am not much interested in crime thrillers but the author has led this story in a unique way which I liked.

In the beginning of the story, Shannon writes a letter to Chris (who investigates cold cases )to solve the mystery in her life and find out the culprit who murdered her ex-husband. 

Investigating a 40- year old crime is not easy with all evidences wiped, many witnesses dead or unavailable. But the team of investigators - Chris, Helen, Francine, Doris, Elliott, Jacqui, Mac Faraday come together and collect all the information about the case from multiple sources. 

They talk to multiple people associated with the case, gather important information and at last find the murderer. 

The plot is complex and involves many characters, but the author could connect the dots logically at the end. The way mystery is revealed bit by bit made this novel interesting and intriguing till the end. The pace of the story is good. The suspense and logic are great.

I would recommend this Book to all suspense and crime thriller lovers.

My Rating: 5/5

PS: I have received this book from iread book tours in exchange of a review and this is my honest opinion of the book. 

Meet the Author:  

 Lauren
Carr is the international best-selling author of the Thorny Rose, Mac
Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries—over
twenty titles across four fast-paced mystery series filled with twists
and turns!



Book reviewers and readers alike
rave about how Lauren Carr seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery,
suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.



Lauren is a popular speaker who has
made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at
conventions. She lives with her husband, and two spoiled rotten German
shepherds on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

---

Connect with the author:   Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook  ~  Instagram

BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE:

Oct 7 – Working Mommy Journal – book review of The Last Thing She Said

Oct 7 - JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder – book review of Ice / giveaway

Oct 7 – Bookriot – audiobook review of Ice / giveaway

Oct 7 – Just Another Reader – book review of Ice

Oct 7 - Rita's Reading Room – series spotlight / author interview / giveaway

Oct 7 - Viviana MacKade – series spotlight / guest post

Oct 8 - Just Another Reader – book review of Winter Frost

Oct 8 - JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder – book review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Oct 8 – Amy’s Booket List – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Oct 8 - Rockin' Book Reviews – book review of The Last Thing She Said / guest post /

             giveaway

Oct 9 - Cuzinlogic - series spotlight / giveaway

Oct 9 - JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder – book review of The Last Thing She Said /

              giveaway

Oct 9 – Just Another Reader – book review of The Last  Thing She Said

Oct 9 - The Voracious Bibliophile – book review of The Last Thing She Said

Oct 10 – Librorum in Sempiternum – book review of Ice / giveaway

Oct 11 – It's All About the Book – book review of The Last Thing She Said

Oct 14 – b for bookreview – series spotlight / author interview

Oct 15 - Buried Under Books - audiobook review of Ice / giveaway

Oct 15 – Pause for Tales – book review of The Last Thing She Said

Oct 16 – Locks, Hooks and Books – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said /

                 guest post / giveaway

Oct 17 – Library of Clean Reads – series spotlight / giveaway

Oct 18 - Library of Clean Reads – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Oct 19 – Bookriot – audiobook review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Oct 20 – Librorum in Sempiternum – book review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Oct 21 - Hall Ways Blog – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Oct 21 - Words And Peace – book spotlight / giveaway

Oct 22 – Kristin’s Novel Café – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said

Oct 23 – Mystery Suspense Reviews – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said /

                 guest post

Oct 24 – Haddie's Haven – audiobook review of Ice / giveaway

Oct 24 – FUONLYKNEW – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Oct 24 - My Journey Back - series spotlight / guest post / giveaway

Oct 25 - Blooming with Books – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Oct 25 - StoreyBook Reviews - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway

Oct 26 – Bookriot – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Oct 28 – Sefina Hawke's Books – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said

Oct 29 - Buried Under Books - audiobook review of The Last  Thing she Said / giveaway

Oct 29 – My Reading Journeys – book review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Oct 30 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – book spotlight of The Last Thing She Said /

                 giveaway

Oct 31 – Dab of Darkness Book Reviews – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said

                 / giveaway

Nov 1 – Life as Leels – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 4 – Books for Books – audiobook review of Ice / giveaway

Nov 5 – Bound 4 Escape – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 6 – fundinmental – book review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Nov 6 - My Reading Journeys – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 7 – Haddie's Haven – audiobook review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Nov 8 – Literary Flits – series spotlight / giveaway

Nov 11 – The Avid Inspri – book review of Ice / giveaway

Nov 11 - Books for Books – audiobook review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Nov 12 – Librorum in Sempiternum – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 13 – Celticlady's Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway

Nov 13 - A Fountain of Books - book review of The Last Thing She Said / guest post / giveaway

Nov 14 - T's Stuff – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said / author interview /

                 giveaway

Nov 15 - The Avid Inspri – book review of Winter Frost / giveaway

Nov 15 – Nighttime Reading Center – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 18 – Laura's Interests – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said / guest post /

                 giveaway

Nov 18 - Books for Books – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 19 – JBronder Book Reviews – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said

Nov 19 - Shalini's Books & Reviews – book review of The Last Thing She Said

Nov 20 - fundinmental – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 20 – Haddie's Haven – audiobook review of The Last Thing She Said / guest post /

                 giveaway

Nov 20 - I'm All About Books – book review of The Last Thing She Said / guest post /

                giveaway

Nov 20 - Svetlana's reads and views – book review of The Last Thing She Said /

                giveaway

Nov 21 – Books Are Love – book review of The Last Thing She Said / author interview /

                 giveaway

Nov 21 - The Avid Inspri – book review of The Last Thing She Said / guest post /

                 giveaway

Nov 22 - Adventurous Jessy – book review of The Last Thing She Said / giveaway

Nov 22 – SammieReadsBook – book review of The Last Thing She Said / author

                 interview / giveaway

Nov 22 -  Jypsylynn – book review of The Last Thing She Said

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

Ends November 30th, 2019

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Until next time,

5 Best Qualities to learn from Children

I am a mom of 2 boys. I have learned a lot by parenting these 2 kids and observing them over the last few years. Since Children haven't experienced this world like us yet, they are open-minded, curious, ready to learn new things, have more courage to take risks than adults. 

We mature as we grow, but we also forfeit some good qualities in the process of growing. Here are a few Qualities that I feel we, adults should learn from our children.

Pin it for later!

Curiosity :

Kids have a lot of questions as they are trying to learn new things day by day. They are curious, ready to explore new places, talk to new people and try new things. As we grow, we may be social , but do we really explore new places, talk to people from our heart and make new friends as easily as them? I am not sure.

When it comes to trying new things, we definitely will be far behind, right? We might have tried new tastes/ new adventures when we were kids than now. We should really learn to be more curious about things around and shouldn't stop learning.

PC: www.pixabay.com

Patience :

I am not talking about toddlers who lose patience very quickly and whose attention span is less. But, when they cross that stage, they improve their patience when they do crafts or play with building blocks. They involve themselves completely in the activity and try multiple times even after failing.

Iam not sure if all kids are like this, but my sons play with building blocks and legos for hours and hours to build something complex even after multiple failures. 

We, adults have pre-conceived notions before we start something, 
like -
 Dance doesn't suit my body
 or
 I am not creative enough, etc., 

These notions make us lose our patience when we hit a small failure. May be it's time for us to learn having patience and try again.

Loving Unconditionally :

In childhood, we also loved our parents unconditionally and trusted our friends blindly and supported family and friends without expecting anything in return. 

But, as we grew up, we saw that people change, friends become foes, people become close for some needs and leave when they get what they want. After all these, it becomes tough for us to love unconditionally like in childhood.

PC: www.pixabay.com

Loving our family without any expectations is the important factor for our happy life which we can always learn from our children. 

Excitement and Fun :

Kids get excited for every small win, they enjoy their little successes, right? They feel happy for just painting something new or creating some good craft or eating their favorite dessert!

As we grow, we stop enjoying these little things as we get busy with our work, managing home and other tasks. But, without excitement and fun, life becomes routine and boring.

Trying New things :

As children grow, they learn a lot of new things and try new hobbies if they are introduced to them. They are not afraid of failing and will put their efforts sincerely. 

I think, while growing, we slowly lose this good quality of trying new things. That's why many people believe it's easy to learn arts or martial skills early. 

But, it's not true. Acquiring a new skill is not impossible at any age if we are passionate towards it and spend more time working hard. Check this post to find out your hidden talents and work on them.

So, what do you think? What can we learn from our children? Do let me know in comments.

Until next time,

This post is written for Children's Day blog train hosted by Prerna at www.prernawahi.com and Vartika at www.vartikasdiary.com.