The Fifth Petal and Anne Frank

I have just finished reading "The Fifth Petal" by Brunonia Barry.  It is the sequel to "The Lace Reader" and it was equally as good.  It is the story of Rose Whelan, the Goddesses, and Callie.  And Salem.  It is a great ghost story, a murder mystery and a romance.  I should have waited until October and cooler weather, however, to read it.  It is a perfect fall read -- but it isn't ever going to be fall in Texas so I decided to go ahead and read it.

I recommend.

Now I am reading "The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition".  I read the Diary of Anne Frank years and years ago so I decided to revisit this new, expanded edition.  It is a lot different than I remembered.  Maybe I should go back and reread the one I read originally.  There seems to be a lot of added material that was omitted from the original edition.  It is good, it seems more realistic.  It seems to be a fast read.

I will let you know.

Old School

Have you ever thought that doing things the "old school" way was better?  Easier?  We have so many labor saving devices and computer apps to help us do things that one wouldn't think doing thing the old fashioned way would be acceptable anymore or even desirable. However....

I have one of these --

Only mine is red and her name is Ruby.  I love Ruby, we get along very well and she is holding up well for her age.  The problem is, I don't like pushing and pulling Ruby around.  She is a little on the, um, portly side for her size and it is exhausting getting her go where I want her to go.  I love her, though, and would never get rid of her.

However -- I also have this --

Meet Big Wooly  -- Big Wooly is an American made dust mop with a washable, all wool head and a lacquered handle.  It has a 12 inch swivel action head that makes it very easy to maneuver around furniture. 

Since most of my floor are solid surface either option works but shhh....don't tell Ruby ....but Big Wooly and I have a better working relationship.

Then, my next big booger bear is dusting.  Since my house has every window covered in plantation shutters I have a lot of dusting to do.

Sometimes I use this --

or this

or just a microfiber cloth.

However, the other day on my soap opera (hey, they CAN be educational!) I was watching somebody dusting with an ostrich feather duster.  So, I did a little research and learned a lot.  I have had lambswool dusters and chicken feather dusters and I didn't care for them but I have never had an ostrich feather duster.  Apparently they are completely different. 

So, I took my sassy self to BedBathandBeyond and bought this --

Considering the price of the Swiffer duster refills, $12.99 isn't bad for this little jewel.

I got up yesterday morning and dusted all the furniture in my living room and my den and I dust mopped all the floors.  I couldn't believe how quick and easy it was.  The dust mop makes the floors really shine and the feather duster really did pick up the dust -- my mother always said they just throw the dust around but -- sorry Mom, you were wrong on this one.


I have been reading a couple of blogs that promote doing things the "old school" way and generally living a more simple existence. They take me back to my childhood sometimes so when  I pulled out that dust mop  I could see my mother cleaning house -- she loved dust mops -- in her white shorts and rubber flip flops.  She wasn't big on lots of appliances -- give her a broom, a dust mop, a wet mop and some Lysol and she was good to go.

And it all worked! The house is clean and I am not exhausted!  The moral of this blog is -- pay attention to your mom and your soap opera -- you can learn a lot from both!