Well, it looks like for once I'm finally going to get this post published in the actual morning. I'm a little worn out from my new workout routines last week. I have been exercising late at night with the intention to move it into the early mornings, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I probably wait until tonight to do today's workout. There are days when I don't even want to exercise, but I somehow find a way to force myself. The good news is that I have lost 4 pounds since January 1st!

I did something I wasn't ever planning on doing - I shaved off my beard. I grew my beard around 14 or 15 years ago with the intention of never shaving it as my skin has a habit of breaking out when I shave. I can't explain it - I guess I just wanted to try something new, so I shaved it off. I have to admit that I do look a bit younger without my beard. Last week, I charged up my two old electric razors and used them, but they don't give a close shave. Today, I used a throwaway razor, which I didn't care for too much. However, I ordered a new electric razor on Friday, which I hope to receive sometime this week.

I plan on doing some personal reading this year; you know the books that I don't have to review on here. I went ahead and read 10 pages in Shakespeare's Champion by Charlaine Harris, one of the books I picked up at the thrift store over the weekend. Yeah, I know that 10 pages isn't a whole lot, but I only had about five minutes of free time to read yesterday. I do hope to read the entire book this week.

Yes, I do love a good cup of coffee every morning, so it should be no surprise that I wanted to try the Wave 3 Smooth Dark Roast Organic Whole Beans. Now I prefer to use coffee beans that I grind at home as it makes the coffee taste even more fresher.

Since everyone likes to be green these days, the Wave 3 coffee is USDA Certified Organic (Fair Trade & sustainably-grown). Each bean is hand selected and dark roasted the very same day via "third wave coffee roaster," which gives each batch an unique flavor.

Typically, your average cup of coffee would have just caffeine in it, but the Wave 3 has more than just caffeine. Actually, it is considered a superfood as it contains Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid, Manganese, Potassium, Magnesium and Niacin as well as antioxidants! Unlike other coffee brands that can leave you feeling a bit edgy, the Wave 3 leaves you with a nice wave of energy.

Scared Silly: 13 Classic Horror Comedies
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Ava Gardner, Bela Lugosi, Jack Haley
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Retail: $9.98
ASIN: B00OU4MTD8
Running Time: 15 hours 27 minutes
Rating: PG / NR / R
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

To kickoff the 2015, Mill Creek Entertainment is releasing a 3-disc set Scared Silly: 13 Classic Horror Comedies on Tuesday January 13, 2015, featuring Bela Lugosi, Jack Haley, Dick Miller, The Ritz Brothers, Dick Purrcell, John McCafferty and many other great actors.

The BoxTrolls
Directors: Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi
Voice Cast: Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Elle Fanning, Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 20, 2015
Retail: $49.98
ASIN: B00NFZ367Q
Running Time: 97 minutes
Rating: PG
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD on January 20th from Universal Studios Home Entertainment is last year  3D stop motion animated fantasy-comedy film "The BoxTrolls." Bonus Features include Dare to the Square: Behind the Scenes of the Boxtrolls, 5 Featurettes that Take You Inside the Magical World of The Boxtrolls, Feature Commentary with Directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi and the Blu-ray Exclusive - Preliminary Animatics Sequences.

Based on the children book  Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow, The BoxTrolls is set in 1809 in the fictional town of Cheesebridge and centers on a group of subterranean trolls whom live underneath the streets. The outside word believes that the trolls kidnaps and kills little children, but in reality they are kind and shy creatures that wouldn't hurt a fly. They wear boxes and draw pictures on the boxes to represent their name.

Years ago, the trolls came across a human baby and they have been raising him ever since, naming him Eggs. Like the trolls, Eggs wheres a box and crawls out of the sewers at night to find goodies  that humans leave behind in their trash cans and on the street.

The Pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) has been obsessed with getting a white hat as only a member of the high society receives one. He finally makes a deal with the mayor that he will receive a white hat if  he catches all of the Boxtrolls, so one by one he begins catching the trolls, including Fish, the gentle troll who is Egg's best friend.

Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) is now a young boy and begins to explore the outside world, which is where he befriends the mayor's daughter, Winnie (voiced by Elle Fanning). He unravels Snatcher's plans on destroying the trolls and sets out to find where Snatcher is keeping Fish and the other Trolls at. Somehow Eggs is going to come up with a plan to save the trolls and show the town that trolls are not the villains.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Billy!

If you could have dinner with your favorite character, who would it be?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

The first character that pops into my mind is Sookie Stackhouse from the "True Blood" books, but she can read minds, so I don't think that would be a good idea. The second character that pops into my mind is the immortal Lanore McIlvrae from the Taker trilogy. She was born just before or around the beginning of the 19th Century, so surely she has a lot to talk about.

Masterpiece Marriage
Quilts of Love Series
by Gina Welborn
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Pub. Date: December 16, 2014
Pages: 229
Buy Link: Amazon
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/gwelborn

Review:

If you follow my blog on regular basis, then you probably noticed that I have reviewed several books from the the Quilts of Love Series from Abingdon Press. Each book in the series features a different story and characters that are written by a different authors. The newest installment is titled Masterpiece Marriage and it is written by Gina Welborn.

The book is set in 1891 and centers on a man named Zenus Dane, who's textile mill was recently flooded. Due to the fact that his normal income has come to a halt, the bank has been pressuring him to pay off his loan. With no other choice, he is determined to salvage the textiles, but he will need his aunt's help as he wants to use her hand-drawn quilt patterns.

To his surprise, Mary Varrs, an Englishwoman, hires Aunt Priscilla to illustrate her prized tomato plants. Of course this is a love story, so you can pretty much guess what happens next - Zenus and Mary meet and quickly start to develop feelings for each other.