Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, October 05, 2009
Mailbox Monday - October 5
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Books Read in September
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner. Rated 3.5. I think Weiner gets a bad rap for being chick lit and fluffy, but she isn't. This was a good book with some deep subject matters. It would make a good book club book because it's fairly quick and easy to read but still has some depth to it.
Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich. Rated 4. I read this for my face-to-face book club here at the library. My group was split between those who liked it and those who didn't. Maybe I enjoyed it more because it's set in N.D. fairly close to where I was raised and the characters were Germans like my prairie ancestors were.
Body in the Library by Agatha Christie. Rated 3. Loving Agatha Christie and Miss Marple.
Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas. Rated 3.5. I always enjoy Dallas' books. Great character and good plots.
Obama's Blackberry by Kasper Hauser. Rated 3. I received this in a box of books Hatchett sent to me. A HUGE box of books :) This was a funny book and took me about an hour to read.
Goldengrove by Francine Prose. I haven't finished this book yet. Book Club Girl sent me a copy. I am savoring it. The writing is lovely. Right now it is reminding me of Local News by Miriam Gershow. Prose is a new author for me and I'm happy I've discovered her.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A Winter Short Track Race
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Rustic Roosters and Eggplant Pizza
And I have to tell you about the great pizza we made the other night. Tim has decided that he really likes eggplant, so I've been looking for eggplant recipes. I found one for pizza on Smitten Kitchen's blog. She grilled her home made pizza dough, we grilled the eggplant but used a pre-made store bought crust and baked it in the oven. It was yummy. The eggplant had a mushroom texture and the green olives ave lots of briney flavor and then it was covered in melty provolone. Go make one for yourself.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Blueberry Cake
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Mailbox Monday August 17
Monday, August 10, 2009
Mailbox Monday Aug. 10
First Day of Kindergarten
Friday, August 07, 2009
July Reads
The Local News by Miriam Gershow. Rating 3. This book came to me from Gayle at Every Day I Write the Book for the June book club discussion - which I obviously missed. We get to see Lydia's point of view during the aftermath of her older brother's disappearance. I thought it was interesting to hear from a younger sister who wasn't all that sad that her older, more popular, bully of a brother was missing. But the characters lacked something, they weren't very interesting.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Princeby JK Rowling. I re-read this one before we went to see the movie.
Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran. Rating 3. Three Iranian women open a restaurant in a small Irish town. I felt like some of the quirky local characters got dropped halfway through the book. The plot and character weren't very original, and I didn't like the main love interest.
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. Rating 4. Very funny and lots of blowing up cars. And Ranger - my favorite.
The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil. Rating 3. Not very original The characters were nice. though neither the yarn shop of the knitting group were named after the title of the book, which I thought was odd.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Rating 4. This is a juvenile book. Lovely little book. The copy I read had beautiful Illustrations. It reminded me of the Velveteen Rabbit. But this is the story of a china rabbit who passes from owner to owner and who learns what love is.
Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Rating 4.5. A fabulous book. Told from Alice's point of view as she descends into early onset Alzheimer's Disease. It was so realistic. And there are so many layers to the story.
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. Rating 3. This was for my face-to-face book club who liked it more than I did. We had a great discussion. I just think there are better books out there about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. The author never gives the main characters names and so I felt a lack of connection to them.
Summer Houseby Nancy Thayer. Rating 3.5. A light book good for summer. The characters were enjoyable. I kept waiting for something big to happen but everything ended graciously.
God's Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. Rating 4. Very funny. The Greek gods now live in London instead of Olympus. They are bored and play mean tricks on each other to keep themselves amused. two innocent mortals get caught up in one of their tricks and they end up saving the world - but Alice has to die first.
Divorce Party by Laura Dave. Rating 4. This book came from Mari at Bookworm With a View. I really enjoyed this small book. It comes off as a light book, but there are lots of good underlying themes. Maggie meets her future in-laws for the first time at their divorce party, and learns a lot about her future husband.
School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Brawermeister. rating 3. Lillian runs a cooking school in her restaurant. Food is the answer to all the problems her students bring with them. Nicely written, interesting characters, but the plot did not feel original.
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond. Rating 4. The story focuses on Abby, who lost her fiance's young daughter one day at the beach. She blames herself for looking away for an instant, but she believes she can search her memory for the key piece of information and the little girl will be found. I thought the ending was a little unrealistic, but the author does such a good job that the reader believes too.
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. Rating 4. A group of young mothers meet in the 60's. They all read and discussing books is what brings them together. We watch as they grow into modern women who can think for themselves and take care of themselves and begin to see themselves as separate from their husbands but still have good marriages.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Just Like Mom and Dad
Monday, August 03, 2009
Mailbox Monday August 3, 2009
Wild About You
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
BB: Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad
The Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad was one of the Barefoot Blogger recipes from last month. Cat, of Delta Whisky selected the recipe. I served the salad with an Italian beef sandwich. Truthfully, we weren't crazy about the salad. We liked all the elements, but somehow all together it didn't do anything for us. I wonder if it would have been better warm. The second recipe for the month was a Peach and Blueberry Crumble, chosen by Aggie's Kitchen. Neither of us eat peaches, so we skipped this recipe. I am looking forward to trying this month's recipes.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Books Read in June
Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Rated 4. The beginning of this one is a little confusing as all of the male cousins are introduced. The plot was good and kept me guessing as to which of the cousins Kitty would pick.
At Bertrams Hotel by Agatha Christie. Rated 4. My very first Agatha Christie, and I loved it. It's a really good story with wonderful characters. It's more of a character and setting kind of book than a mystery.
Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. Rated 4. This was for the Picador Twitter book club that I wasn't able to participate in because we were in the car for one of our trips to KY. I'm disappointed that I missed the discussion because this is one heck of a book. The story is narrated by an unnamed neighborhood boy as he and his friends try and figure out why the five neighbor girls all commit suicide.
The Other by David Guterson. Rated 4. Tim and I listened to this on audio on one of our trips to KY. It was read by Mark Bramhall. We both enjoyed the book very much. In fact, Tim has commented on it several weeks later. Guterson writes a wonderful sense of place. This book reminded me of Bridge of Sighs with it's themes of male friendship, reminiscing on the past and how the past affects our lives.
Beach Trip by Cathy Horton. Rated 3. A story of women's friendships and trying to reconnect after many years. My favorite character was Lola.
Not Becomming My Mother by Ruth Reichl. Rated 5. This is a short memoir. Reichle is saying a thank you to her mother.
Seducing and Angel by Mary Balogh. Rated 4. Historical romance.
Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks. Rated 3. The characters and setting were good, but I felt the author was overdoing Sunny's relationship with her mother and the death of her younger sister.
Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. Rated 4. Good stories and characters. We got to meet a few new characters and revisit several former characters. The story is still fresh.
Souvenir by Therese Fowler. Rated 2.5. Fowler is going to be the author for our annual Friends of the Library Author Dinner later this year. I'm looking forward to reading her second novel.
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie. Rated 4. Another great Miss Marple mystery.
And one DNF: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. I love Wally Lamb and had been looking forward to his newest book. We started listen to it on audio on one of our trips to KY. We didn't get it all listened to so I started reading when we got home. It just got tedious, so I quit reading.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Mailbox Monday: July 6
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Everything Austen
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Father's Day
Sorry the picture is terrible - it was a quick shot so I could get them in the mail. The base is a kraft cardstock that Tim brought home for me, as is the green and blue cardstocks. The Very Vanilla that I stamped the tree on and the Basic Black are both Stampin' Up cardstocks. The tree stamp is stamped in Basic Black ink, from SU's Lovely as a Tree set, and the greeting is from one of the retired All Year Cheer sets. I added a few black rads to give it some texture.
Friday, June 12, 2009
BB: Curried Couscous
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Books Read in May
I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci. Memoir. Rating 3.5
Desperately Seeking A Duke, The Duke Next Door, and Duke Most Wanted by Celeste Bradley. Romance.
Some Like it Wild by Teresa Medeiros. Romance. Rating 3. Fun story. Follows Some Like it Wicked.
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. Fiction. Rating 4. Great characters. The book was a little long. had a great discussion with my book club.
Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel. Memoir. Rating 4.
We Are All Fine Here by Mary Guterson. Fiction. Rating 3. It's a small book which reads quickly. And, of course, everything isn't fine.
To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt. Romance. Rating 3.5. Number three in the Legend of the Four Soldiers series after To Taste Temptation, and To Seduce a Sinner. Next will be To Desire a Devil.
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. Memoir. Rating 4.
Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer. Classic Romance. Rating 4. Fresh characters and plot. Still a classic.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Graduation 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Mailbox Monday - June 1, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
BB: Backtrack
The second Barefoot Bloggers recipe for May was Outrageous Brownies, selected by Eva of I'm Boring. After the Lemon Cake I just couldn't eat another sweet, so I used the Backtrack option and made the Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts that Anne from Anne Strawberry picked in March before I joined in. Tim and I loved these! We each had two for our dinner. We are anxiously awaiting fresh tomatoes from our garden to make these again. And Tim mentioned right away that there are so many ways we can change these up. I think puff pastry will become a staple in our freezer. The tarts also introduced us to goat cheese which is so creamy and delicious. Can anyone give me other ideas to use goat cheese? We had a few scraps of the puff pastry leftover that we couldn't let go to waste, so we made some little Parmesan pinwheels that made a delicious little snack. It was a great recipe - super easy to make and very tasty. I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
BB: Lemon Cakes
Sunday, I spent most of the afternoon making the Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Cakes. McKenzie of Kenzie's Kitchen chose this month's bonus recipe for the Barefoot Bloggers. Thank you McKenzie! I love this cake. The recipe makes two cake loaves. I have one in the freezer for later, and I brought the other unfinished loaf into work. It's getting raves reviews. I did find it a little time consuming with all the zesting and juicing, and the syrup and then glaze steps. But it was so worth it.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
A Very Good Day for a Bike Ride
I finished this layout a couple of weeks ago after carrying it in my bag for over a year. These are pictures of Tim doing a road bike ride a couple of years before we met. These pictures were taken in 1989 during James Madison Days in Madisonville, KY. He is with his friend Diane White and her brother Story.
For the background I used SU Soft Sky and matted the photos on Real Red. The circle is Very Vanilla and matted on Not Quite Navy, and the punched arrow are also NQN. The red and vanilla stripped paper is SU and the turquoise scalloped paper is Sandy Lion and the darker blue strip is unknown. I used the SU arrow punch and SU On Board Loads of Letters chipboard, which I painted red. The circle on the right has Making Memories rubons and a self adhesive accent from SU's Simply Scrappin kit Genuine License.
I was please at how these pages turned out after looking at them for over a year. And I think Tim was pleased with them too.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Mailbox Monday - May 18, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
BB: Tuna Salad
Kate at Warm Olives and Cool Cocktails picked this weeks recipe for the Barefoot Bloggers.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Late, as always...
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mailbox Monday - May 11, 2009
From Drey's Library I received A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal. I have a thing for Holocaust and WWII literature, so I am anxious to read this one.
Gayle at Every Day I Write the Book blog has chosen The Local News by Miriam Gershow for her June online book club. There have been lots of good review about his book and I'm looking forward to reading and discussing it.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Books Read in April
1. Moon Women by Pamela Duncan. Traditional Southern novel. I heard Ms. Duncan speak recently and she is very entertaining, a great story teller. 3/5
2. The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig. Beautifully written, but the story and characters did not interest mer. I did not finish this one.
3. Hone Safe by Elizabeth Berg. I enjoyed the realistic mother/daughter relationship - irritating and loving at the same time. Very realistic. The book had a good solid ending. 4/5
4. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff. Classic. 5/5
5. Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy. As always, Binchy creates a cast of wonderful characters and we get to know them all. We also see characters from previous books. 4/5
6. The Big Beautiful by Pamela Duncan. Sequel to Moon Women. Humerous. 4/5
7. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Beautifully written but very depressing and sorrowful. 4/5
8. The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow. A fun novel. Molly Marx is dead and she's trying to figure out how she died. In the end it doesn't matter. 4/5
9. Astrid & Veronika by Linda Olsson. One of the best books I've read so far this year. Full of poetry, and beautifully written. Ms. Olsson has a new book coming out soon. 4.5/5
10. The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickenson. Ms Dickenson is the new Ann Landers. This is her memior of raising her daughter with the help of the women in her family and the small town of Freeville. 4/5
11. No Choice But Seduction by Johanna Lindsey. A romance novel, and not her best. Part of the extended Mallory series. 3/5
12. The Year that Follows by Scott Lasser. A a sister and faher's post 9/11 serch for family and what it means to be a family. 4/5
13. At Last Comes Love by Mary Balogh. Another romance novel. The last of a trilogy, and probably the best of the three books about sisters of a young man who suddenly inherits a title and thrust them into socity. 3/5
I've already read several good books this month.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Mailbox Monday - April 27, 2009
Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting Mailbox Monday's. This week I had two new books show up on my front porch. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See came from Random House, and Swimming by Nicola Keegan from Marie also at Random House. I love Random House :) I wonder what this week will bring me?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Fancy Birthday
Friday, April 24, 2009
BB: Croque Monsieur
Monday, April 20, 2009
Mailbox Monday - April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Spinach - it's Yummy
Saturday I spent the day scrapbooking. Tim spent the day replacing the fuel pump on his Buick. Before I left I made these Spinach Balls. I found the recipe on Friday on www.mochefsallowed.blogspot.com. They were super easy inexpensive and super easy - perfect to take to a pot luck lunch - and they got rave reviews.
Spinach Balls
1 frozen pkg chopped spinach, cooked and drained
2 cups herb & seasons stuffing mix
1 cup chopped onions
3 beaten eggs
6 tablespoons of melted butter
6 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese (I also used a little shredded Colby Jack mix)
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix all ingredients. Shape into 2 inch balls. Put on sprayed cookie sheet. bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Makes 4 dozen.
This week I'll share the scrapbook pages I got done.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Lunch with a Friend
Monday, April 13, 2009
Mailbox Monday - April 13, 2009
Each week Marcia, at the Printed Page blog, asks us to share what new books came into our homes that week. I only received a couple of books - which is okay since I have a huge stack of library books to read plus lots of other free books, ARC's, and book sale books to read. You can visit the Printed Page, by clicking on the link on the right side of the screen, to see what new books other book bloggers received.
The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel came from Book Club Girl. Check out her blog (see the link on the right side of the screen) to see more information on her radio show. Lily Koppel will be her guest on April 29th at 7pm.
And as part of the Harlequin Ambassadors program I received a box with 5 copies of a Harlequin Super Romance Married by Mistake by Abby Gaines to give away. I've given most of them away here at the library, but I've saved one copy to give away here. If you are interested, let me know, and I'll randomly pick a winner on Wednesday. The New York Times recently reported that in this sluggish economy "sales of romance novels are outstripping most other categories of books".
Happy reading everyone!
Thursday, April 09, 2009
BB: Chinese Chicken Salad
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Book 25: Buffalo Lockjaw and a DNF
Author: Greg Ames
Copyright Date: 2009
Rating: 2
Notes: I've struggled with my reactions to this book. And it comes down to the fact that I didn't like it. And I'm sad that I didn't like it. I understood where the author was trying to go with the story - James is trying to deal with his mother's decline due to Alzheimer's - but it didn't work for me. The narrator, James, was whiny and it just overwhelmed the book for me. I do want to thank Gail at Everyday I Write the Book Blog for sending me a copy of the book and for hosting the book discussion.
DNF = Did Not Finish = a sad, sad thing
Title: The Eleventh Man
Author: Ivan Doig
Copyright Date: 2008
Rating: DNF
Notes: I hate that I'm not going to finish this book. It is beautifully written. I made it almost half way through, but the plot and the characters just aren't interesting me. I read the last few pages to see if that might entice me to finish it, but no. It's about the members of a winning college football team and what happens to them during WWII. So if you like beautifully written books, the west, football, planes or WWII, then you might love this book. I did not.
And now I hope I can move out of this reading funk.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Chef Tim
Monday, March 30, 2009
Mailbox Monday - March 30
Sunday, March 29, 2009
How Many Years?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thankful
This first layout is from Thanksgiving 2008. The title across the top are the pieces from the centerpiece I made. I used SU punches to put them together and then glued them on skewers. The letters are rubons. On the back of each letter we all wrote what we were thankful for. I just stuck the skewers into a pocket on te page, so that we can read what people wrote on the backs of the letter. The little turkey accents are from the place cards I made and are also made from SU punches. The paper is from Target's Dollar Spot and so are the other two coordinating embellishments. Journaling was done on the computer and cut out with the Big Shot with the Top Note die.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Mailbox Monday - March 23
Friday, March 20, 2009
Book 21 - The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Author: John Boyne
Pub. Date: 2006
Date: 3/19/09
Rating: 4.5
Notes: This a deceptively simple story of the Holocaust. It is classified as a juvenile novel, but is definitely a good read for adults. Told from the view of Bruno, a 9 year old German boy whose father is the commandant at "Out With". It is also the story of a friendship between Bruno on one side of the fence and Shmuel who wears striped pajamas and lives on the other side of the fence.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Book 20 - Run
Title: Run
Author: Ann Patchett
Pub. Date: 2007
Date: 3/17/09
Rating: 4
Notes: I loved getting to know the characters so well in a 24-hour period. I enjoyed discovering the many meanings of "run". It was a well written book. And I was very willing to overlook how easily the Doyle family took Kenya in and accepted the situation with Tennessee.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Mailbox Monday - March 16
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Book 19 - To Seduce a Sinner
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Pub. Date: 2008
Date: 3/10/09
Rating: 3
Notes:
I was a little disappointed with this book. The plot was good and so was the hero, Lord Vale, and the heroine, Melisande. I just didn't feel the chemistry between them. Hoyt focused on the sexual relationship. For me, a romance novel is more than sex and plot - though both are very important and can't be overlooked.
This book is number 2 of the Legends of the Four Soldiers series. I've requested the first of the series and will give it a try. Number 3 should be published shortly.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Book 18 - Flirting with Forty
Title: Flirting With Forty
Author: Jane Porter
Pub. Date: 2006
Date Read: 3/10/09
Rating: 3
Notes: Mom-lit, Divorce-lit - whatever Chick-lit for older women is called. Jackie is divorced with two kids and a job and she's turning forty. On a trip to Hawaii she meets a younger surf instructor and falls in love with him. Can they make it work between her home and kids in Seattle and his no-ties life style in Hawaii? The characters are interesting and likable and I was rooting for them to have a happily ever after.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Mailbox Monday - March 9, 2009
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
You can never have too many bookmarks!
Monday, March 02, 2009
Catching Up
Book 13
Title: The World According to Bertie
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Pub. Date 2008
Date: 2/20/09
Rating: 4
Notes: This is a 44 Scotland Street novel. I love all the characters in this series, especially Bertie, who was the focus of this book. The chapters are short, so the story moves along. I found this one very humorous.
Book 14
Title: Very Valentine
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Pub Date: 2009
Date: 2/23/09
Rating 3.5
Notes:
Valentine is a great heroine. She fights for what she loves and that's the family custom shoe business and not a man. I was disappointed with the end - that Valentine couldn't have it all. But it's the first of a trilogy, so hopefully she'll end up with love and the business. Trigiani writes great sections about Italy. I'm glad her characters can afford trips to Italy so I can go along with them.
Book 15
Title: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Author: David Wroblewski
Pub. Date: 2008
Rating DNF
Notes: This book got such good reviews and I got an ARC last year when I was at PLA in Minneapolis. I carried this huge book home on the plane - along with forty pounds of other books. I couldn't finish the thing. I didn't like the characters. I love animals, but am not really a dog person, but I worried that something bad was going to happen to all the dogs. The writing was okay, but the author just went on and on. By the time I gave up not much had happened and there seemed to be no point to it all. My f2f book club really liked the book and we had a great discussion. Mom wants to read it when she gets here, so I can't wait to see what she thinks.
Book 16
Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pub. Date:
Date: 2/25/09
Rating: 4
Notes: Just re-reading another in the series.
Book 17
Title: Temptation and Surrender
Author: Stephanie Laurens
Pub. Date: 2009
Date: 2/28/09
Rating 3
Notes: Not one of her best books. I like it better when the heroine and the hero work together. In this story, Emily Beauregaurd kept too many secrets from Mr. Tallent. And finding a huge treasure is unrealistic. We did get to see Lucifer Cynster who is married to Mr. Tallent's sister Phyllida.
I've got a couple of books I need to finish up and I'm expecting some new books in the mail this week and next. I'll let you know what I get read and how I like them. Feel free to let me know if you read any of these books and how you liked them. I love hearing other people's opinions of what I've been reading.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Birthdays and Bean Dip
Friday, February 20, 2009
Books 10, 11, and 12
Author: Juliette Fay
Publication Date: 2009
Date Read: 2/6/09
Rating : 4.5
Notes: A very good book. Great plot, a young woman with two small children loses her husband. Before he died, the husband had arranged for a front porch to be added to the house as a suprise to his wife. Wonderful characters - Janie, the widow, her not so lovable mother Noreen, Janie's aunt and surrogate mother, Father Jake, some homeless people, and of course, the porch builder. The title is so fitting for the book - Shelter Me - has so many meanings in the novel. I very much recommend this book.
Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author: JK Rowling
Publication Date: 1997
Rating: 4
Notes: Just a re-read. There are so many little details in the book that the movie doesn't have.
Title: Where the Heart Leads
Author: Stephanie Laurens
Publication Date: 2008
Date Read: 2/18/09
Rating: 3
Notes: The story of Barnaby Adair and Penelope Ashford. Very likeable hero and heroine.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Happy Valentines Day
The two boys, Dylan and nephew Matthew got the truck card. The base in Riding Hood Red. And the other colors are Vanilla, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze. Nothing girly for the boys, even if the big pile of hearts in the back of the truck might be mushy.
Yesterday morning was the first time I had any energy to make cards for Tim and my friend Judi ( I can't send her a card that I made at her kitchen table). Thankfully Tim slept in long enough for me to be creative.I used a So Saffron base with Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red. The stamp set is Just B, which I had to mount, which took more time. The card looks kinda flat in the picture, but along the bottom of the Chocolate Chip layer I punched a line of holes - to match the dots along the letter B and the bee's trail. The little bee is cut out and mounted with a pop dot. For Christmas, my SIL Kirsten gave me a little mini heart muffin tin. So Thursday night I made Tim these little chocolate chip cheesecakes. They turned out delicious, but the whole effort was exhausting and I won't be messing with tiny, fussy, little cheesecakes for a long time. Tim's best Valentine present to me was cooking and cleaning and taking such great care of me while I've been sick - thank you honey.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Book 9: my favorite midlife crisis (yet)
Author: Toby Devens
Date: 2/3/09
Copyright Date: 2006
Rating: 3
Notes: Chick lit for the middle age. It has great characters - Gwyn, Kat, and Fleur - who through their friendship get through divorce (he's gay), widowhood, and finding a husband when you're fifty and overweight. All the women are strong and intelligent. There are a few wacky supporting characters and a few dramas. But it all works out in the end.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
The Humans Christmas
This page uses a Chocolate Chip cardstock for the background and a Old Olive square for the pictures. I traced the scallops from some packaging and cut them by hand. The pattern paper is Basic Grey Fruitcake and mounted on a piece of gold paper. The title is from a CM vellum pack and mounted on a Basic grey tag and attached to the page with Old Olive ribbon. The chipboard swirls are Fancy Pants Design and brushed with gold ink. The journaling strips and scallop circle are Bashful Blue with gold dots. And the little birdie I cut with my Big Shot out of Ruby Red. If you click on the photo you can make it larger and see all the gold details.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Book 8: The Rest of Her Life
Author: Laura Moriarty
Date: 1/28/09
Copyright Date: 2007
Rating: 4
Notes: I received my copy of this book from Jennifer, the Book Club Girl at www.bookclubgirl.com. It took me awhile to get going with this book because it reminded me so much of We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. In both of these books a tragedy occurs in a family and we hear about it from the mothers point of view. In both books the mothers feel that they haven't bonded with their first born child and their husbands don't understand. I enjoyed this book more than Kevin because it wasn't as bleak and desperate. The ending here is much more clear and positive than the ending of Kevin. I'd recommend both books, but maybe not one after the other.
Book 7: Roadie
Author: Jamie Smith; illustrated by Jef Mallett
Date: 1/2009
Copyright Date: 2008
Rating: 3
Notes: This was Tim's Christmas present from one of my brothers and his family. It's a very humerous look at the people who race bicycles. It focuses on roadies - people who ride on the road - but most of it is true for mountain bikers as well (which is what Tim does). It's the kind of book to hand people when they ask stupid questions about bike riding.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Cats Christmas
For this layout I started with a Whisper White background. The wallet sized pictures are on Baja Breeze card stock. The pattern paper is SU's designer series Holiday Happenings. There are a couple of K & Co. stickers next to the photos, the title is a sticker from American Traditional and the parenthesis are Foof-a-la rubons. The little felt mouse with the pink ribbon tail, I made myself.