New to this!

For my teaser this week, I am using an excerpt from The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.  When I finished A Piggly Wiggly Wedding last week I knew I wanted to read something less "light"  so I chose this book from my ever growing Nook library.  I have to say that so far, this book as been a page turner.

"There are times after she's taken exercise in the yard -- the mad yard, they call it -- when she appears to have some recognition.  But then she pleads for the baby, or for our sister Isabelle.  I feel I must be honest, yet she grieves so when I tell her they are both dead." This is taken from page 173.

Really good book.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window I am seeing the absence of the temporary sales office to our spanky, new co-op condo that they have been building behind my house.  The temporary office has been there for a year, looming over our fence and blocking our view.  I am glad it is gone.

I am thinking that there was something else I needed to do today but I don't have a clue what it is -- ah, the joys of the aging brain.

I am thankful for today and the fact that the aforementioned temporary building is gone.

From the learning rooms I am learning about cross stitch fabric.  I have been doing cross stitch for years and am still learning new things.  One new thing that I have learned is that I am not sure I like linen.  I am stitching without a  hoop and maybe it would be easier with a hoop -- guess I will learn about that later.

From  the kitchen I am figuring out that I am not great at just concocting dishes on my own -- the "thing" I made a couple of nights ago I liked but the Hubs didn't.  He did like the chili I made during our "blizzard", however. 

Chili! By my Mom's recipe!

I am wearing an old t-shirt from a quilt shop hop that I did a few years back -- I love this t-shirt even if it is dingy and waaaaaaay too big but it is comfy and reminds me of a great time the Hubs and I had together.  Oh, and I am also wearing gray athletic shorts -- yes, shorts but it is Texas and the weather has been gorgeous.


I am creating some handmade Christmas gifts.  I decided this year would be the year that I didn't get to December 1 and wish I had started earlier!

I am going on a small vacation soon.  The details are not set yet.

I am reading The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.  It is a really good book that I am having trouble putting down.  I acquired my e-reader when I decided that something needed to be done about the copious number of books I buy since I was running out of space.  I decided that I would purchase e-books and if I really wanted to add something to my personal library I would purchase the hard copy -- preferably a hardback.  I think I will be adding this book to my shelves.

I am hoping that the weather  stays good and that I can stay on the roll I am on with my purging and organizing our excess "stuff".

I am hearing, on some news program, that not everybody needs to eat breakfast -- in some people it just piles on extra calories.  I never had a weight problem until I started eating breakfast as an example to my children and it seems that once I eat in the morning, I am hungry all day.  So, for me, this is good news!

Around the house things are getting more organized and "leaner" in regards to our "stuff".  The older I get, the more I dislike excess -- clothes, kitchen items, magazines, weight -- is that normal?

One of my favorite things is waking up early and taking my morning tea outside on the patio to drink it.  After a year of not being able to do that compliments of the offending building, I am looking forward to doing that again.

A few of the plans for the rest of the week include babysitting, sewing, crafting and reading.

Here is a picture thought for you

Love me some bright and perky Starbucks art!

A Piggly Wiggly Wedding by Robert Dalby

I just completed "A Piggly Wiggly Wedding" by Robert Dalby.  I had used this book as a Tuesday Teaser a while back.  I used to read books like this when I was younger and enjoyed lighter reading and it has been a while since I had enjoyed something of this nature.  It took me longer to read it than it should have but I don't seem to stay with my reading like I used to. 

At any rate, it is  a light- hearted book about Gaylie Girl Lyons and Hale Dunbar Jr. -- a middle age+ couple who had been a couple as teenagers, had gone their separate ways, had separate lives and came together again after the death of Gaylie Girl's husband.   The book takes place in the little town of Second Creek, Mississippi.  It begins as Gaylie Girl arrives and takes up residence just prior to her wedding to Mayor Dunbar.  She is introduced to the Nitwitts -- the ladies group of the town and is embraced with open arms and becomes an active  member of the group.  Sound dull?  Think of "Golden Girls" doubled.  Gaylie Girl has a wonderful future ahead with a wonderful man, she is going to be the First Lady of Second Creek and she is going to be renovating a vintage home -- but her euphoria is squashed by her two children from her previous marriage who are not at all excited about the prospect of a step-father in a town called Second Creek.  After all, their mother had been the wife of a very wealthy, prominent businessman in Santa Fe -- how could she be happy and....what about their inheritance.  In the end it all works out but the children create the conflict in the story.  As in many "small town" books, the residents of the town make up the colorful characterization and I think my favorite was Whittsie.  You will have to read for yourself to see why.  It is so interesting to see how the residents of a small community work to bring culture and sophistication to their lives and these characters do just that in a big way.  There is nothing "hickish" about these folks, just charm all around.

I would recommend this book for light reading.  It is pleasant, the conflict is not all that conflicting and it is humorous.  The descriptions are such that you can completely see this little town and put faces to the residents -- we have all had neighbors, friends or relatives just like these people -- universal characters.  It was a bit superficial, could have been deeper in areas but overall, a good read.

Booking Through Thursday

It has been a while so I thought I should post another BTT today.  The question is which authors have we been following since they first started their career.  I guess I have two and that would be Brunonia Barry and Jennifer Chiaverinni.

Teaser Tuesdays 8 February 2011

Since I am still reading the book that I teased you about the last two times, I am going to go to the new book I bought this evening and share a couple of lines from it.

"But months later, as I looked through Maira's photographs, one in particular -- of my sixteen-year-old daughter; Aki: adnd me -- actually changed my life.  In that instant, sandwiched between my blond daughter and gray haired Aki, I saw myself for what I truly was:  a forty-nine-year-old mother with a much too darkly shellacked helmet of hair.  I clearly was not some faintly with-it older pal of my daughter's, but neither did my hair make me look like a contemporary of Aki's.  It was like I was some spectral person floating in a non-man's-land, neither young nor old.  I felt as if I didn't know who I really was."

An excerpt from "Going Gray" by Anne Kreamer

For Today 7 February 2011

Outside my window I see blue skies, sunshine and just a tiny bit of ice in the shady part of the driveway.

I am thinking how quickly the beautiful day that was yesterday transformed into a cloudy, cold, rainy mess in the blink of an eye and know that it is going to do it again tomorrow. It makes me sad but I am trying to remember that it is winter, after all.

I am thankful for the fact that the powers that be decided it was too dangerous for people to be on the roads last week and schools and businesses were closed down to make it a safer place.  Not to mention that I enjoyed the entire week with hubby home!

From the learning rooms I am playing with my accuquilt cutter and enjoying cutting out quilt fabric.  I am going to try another "Disappearing Nine Patch".

From the kitchen I have discovered that we prefer bread made in the bread machine rather than store-bought which is a good thing because our store didn't have any bread yesterday after all the snow/ice and Super Bowl parties.

I am wearing -- uh, you don't really want to know.

I am creating some cross stitch ornaments for next year.

I am going to complete the project that I have started today even if it takes me all day -- which it might.

I am reading "A Piggly Wiggly Wedding" on my Nook which is named Tinklepaw.

I am hoping to get a number of things organized before the next winter event which is scheduled for Wednesday!  Hopefully I can read my way though the next storm!

I am hearing the aquarium behind me.  When we no longer have fish, we are taking it down and then I don't know what I will be hearing -- nothing probably!

Around the house I am in purging and organizing mode.  I am usually pretty good at this when the mood strikes and the mood has struck, thanks to my Dear Daughter who did the same thing last week and, honestly, I would rather be at her de-cluttered house right now than my own!

One of my favorite things is the feeling of accomplishment -- and a brushed kitty. That would be two things -- my bad.

A few plans for the rest of the week include a marathon dental appointment, watching the snow and probably babysitting the Bean.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing

Should We Revisit the Good Old Days?

The last several days have been a bit unusual and more than a bit stressful here in North Texas.  Ice, snow, bitter temps, and the Super Bowl have given us more than a small amount of grief.  One of the hardest things to deal with was rolling black outs, intentionally designed to take the stress off the utility system.  It worked and nobody really lost power for huge amounts of time but we were asked to try to conserve which required us turning things off, unplugging, putting things on hold, like laundry.

This made me think about what we used to do before technology took over our lives.  How did we accomplish things without electricity?  When I started making my mental list it was astounding how our use of electrical power has changed.

One of the first things that came to mind was hair styling.  Now we use blow dryers and curling irons or straightening appliances.  When I was young we used dryers occasionally and it became popular to have lovely hooded models that were portable and you could talk on the phone while you dried your hair.  However, many times we just rolled our hair on curlers and let it dry.  It took a really long time for the Dippity Do to dry, though, but I think our hair was healthier.  I might try it again -- wonder where I can find some Dippity -Do?

The way we wake up has changed a lot, too.  We used to use wind up alarm clocks that sometimes had glow in the dark hands so that you could see the time without turning on the light and they clanged like a fire bell with no snooze!  The only downside to these is that if you let them run down you had to call for the time to reset them.  They are guaranteed to wake up a stubborn teenager though -- ask my son!

Our morning java was prepared differently as well.  While many people used electric percolators, they were pretty new.  People still used percolators and tea kettles that they heated on their gas stoves -- again, no electricity.

Long before we were able to just slide a switch on our central heating, we heating our homes by turning on the natural gas jet to which a space heater like this one was hooked up to.  They were scary and probably not too safe but still, no electricity.

We swept our floors with brooms instead of vacuuming and we read books instead of Nooks and Kindles which have to be plugged in to use.  We now read our newspapers on a computer, again electrified, and we are entertained by more and more electronic equipment every day.  We used to hang our clothes on a clothesline to dry instead of using a dryer and we sat outside on a hot summer evening to try to cool off.  Things were a LOT different then -- we actually knew our neighbors.

 Would I want to go back to the "old days"?  No.  I. Love. Technology.  But, I have to say that reverting back to some of these things -- namely the broom and hand washing the dishes--for a while was actually relaxing and  felt good.  It made me think of my mother and a time when life was simpler and not so hectic and chaotic.   In fact, it made me feel so good that I might actually employ some of the old ways of doing things.  Hair curlers come to  mind but I am going to have to think long and hard about Dippity - Do.

LOL!  Looks and thinks like G. Rollie!

My Favorite Blogs



Hmm...that sounds like an old 50's television show  like  I Married a Witch or  I Remember Mama.  However, blogging is thoroughly modern and goes a long way to making our world even smaller.  It seems that blogging has replaced the cute little pink vinyl diaries of the 50's and probably even the multi-subject notebooks of the school crowd and possibly even the moleskine journals of the traditional academics.  It is sad, on one hand,  that pen, paper, penmanship, and all that goes along with writing has been replaced by a computer but, on the other hand, using a computer, ipad, itouch, ereader, whatever, to blog allows us to write on the go, write what we see, capture the moment, seize the opportunity...so on and so forth.

I use the word "diary" synonymously with "blog" because that is what it is.  However,  when we think of a diary or a journal we think of something private  to be shared with only a select few, if anyone.  It is something to be hidden from parents, siblings, or anybody with prying eyes.  It is almost revered as it contains our most private thoughts put into words.  A blog differs in that it is public, for the most part and the ability to share photos opens up new worlds and new ideas.  Blogs allow knowledge to be imparted across the globe and friendships to be formed like pen pal lists of years gone by.  So,  while we mourn the lost art of letter writing, good penmanship, good spelling and the ability to find really nice stationery it is hard to not be taken in my the allure of all the lovely blogs available for us to read. 

I have been reading blogs for quite some time now and I have acquired quite a blog roll on my own blog.  I do have my favorites, however and I would like to share them here.

My Mark Designs  (http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com) is written by Monique Keylon, a needlework designer.  Her blog links to her website and her Etsy store.  There are loads of needlework posts as well as life events and photos.  I am always cheered when I visit her blog.



Mary Kathryn has a fantastic blog at  http://marykathryn.wordpress.com.  She is also a needleworker and has a great online store called ehandcrafts.  You can link to the store from her site.  She includes lots of photos from the area she lives in and I have to say they are gorgeous -- nothing like reindeer strolling around a parking lot!

Amanda S over at Amandas Adventures in Sewing (http://amandasadventuresinsewing.blogspot.com) is a great little blog for home sewers.  She is young, interesting, takes great photos of her projects and shows us that home sewing is still a viable activity. Plus, she is from my home town, San Antonio, Texas!

The next few blogs take us away from the crafty side of things and more into the world of reading, thinking, ideas, religion and food -- tea to be exact.

Joysweb (http://joysweb.blogspot.com) hosted by JLSHall is a blog full of all sorts of interesting things.  She is a book lover  and shares her favorites  with lively reviews.  She also shares photos of all sorts of things so when you visit her blog, you never know what sort of treat she has posted -- from her doll collection to interesting shadows to photos of her home, Alexandria, VA.  Her site links to several of her other blogs and to blogs that reflect her wide array of interests.


Another spot for thought provoking posts is http://mlhalldotcom.blogspot.com.  Michael reviews classical literature, shares his thoughts on the cyberworld, his travels and his career.  Even though many of his posts are way beyond me, I love to read them because he is just so darn smart!

Brandon's Notepad (http://brandonsnotepad.wordpress.com) is a blog by a young man  who has a wide variety of interests.  He delves into the cyberworld, shares his journey of faith through his Roman Catholic beliefs and, one recent post, he reviews various teas.  This young man doesn't blog enough for he has a lot to say.

Last but not least is a new offering that promises to be very enlightening .  Lone Star Prep (http://lonestarprep.blogspot.com) is a new blog that reveals and reviews the preppy side of Texas.  I think this blog has huge potential as  it opens up the side of Texas that defies the stereotype.  The young woman hostessing the blog is off to a great start with a link to a shopping site that takes the reader across the state to visit a number of unique venues. I think that Lone Star Prep will give the world a glimpse of the depth of Texas -- it isn't all spurs and tumbleweeds!


So, that is my list of my favorite blogs.  I hope that you will enjoy a few of them as well and will share the links with your friends, too.  And with that, I am going to go enjoy of the wonder of the sun shining through snow flurries and be thankful that I don't have to go out in the 50 mph winds.

I have been pretty busy over the last several days.  I can't exactly say doing what but I haven't been reading too much -- except for some magazines.  So, I am still reading what I was reading last week but I will include a teaser anyway.

This is from "A Piggly Wiggly Wedding" by Robert Dalby.

"It was ten past five at the Victorian Tea Room.  Vester Morrow was in the midst of overseeing the exclusive cocktail party he and the Nitwitts had planned as the first step in the evening's progressive dinner for Petey and Amanda.  Only customers held in such inestimable esteem by the veteran restaurateur could have convinced him to close down his pride and joy or an hour or so on a Saturday night -- prime time in Second Creek."