Good Reads

It has been OVER a month since I read anything, but I am planning on getting some MAJOR book time while we are sitting in the hospital this next week.  I am prepared with a little bit of HUNGER GAMES.  Yes I am the only person in the world who has not read them yet.  Here are the books that I read.....who even knows when.  Let's see what I remember...

 First there was Journey To Riverbend by Henry McLaughlin.  This was Christian Lit/Western.  The main gist is that the main character comes to a small town to carry out the dying wish of a young man he had met. He meets an ex-prostitute who has turned her life around.  Then there is a kidnapping, a posse, an attempted rape,  some gun fights, and lots of drama.  This was a pretty good book.  At times it was a little TOO preachy for me.  I am all for morals, but I don't need to be hit over the head all the time with them.  Overall it was a good read though.  Who can you resist a good prostitute story=) 

Next, The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey.  I was not sure I was going to make it through this one.  The beginning was a bit slow.  I stuck it out though and this one was pretty good.  This book takes place in Northern Ireland (sigh).  Oh how I wish I could go check it out there.  It seems like an amazingly beautiful landscape.  Anyway...Sheila is a POOR girl who works in a linen factory.  She lives with an abusive uncle, crazy aunt, bi-polar mother, and adopted refugee child (escaped from war and a brothel).  Intrigued so far???  She participates in the pageant for LINEN QUEEN and wins the title and cash.  She is determined to run away from home with her winnings, but sadly for her there is a war on (WWII) and she cannot leave the country.  She is once again stuck in her horrible life.   Then a group of American soldiers are posted in her town.  There is war, love, death, pregnancy, mental disorders...you name it.  The only warning I  have about this book....Irish language.  Although the swear words are spelled a little different, they are still there.  If you are not into that...then this is not a book for you.  

 Then there was Slay It With Flowers by Kate Collins.  This is the 2nd book in the Flower Shop Mysteries.  My library does not carry the first book (but does carry the next 10 or so), so I started with number 2.  It doesn't really seem to matter...each one is a story on its own anyway.  This book is about Abby, a law school dropout turned flower shop owner.  She is helping to plan her cousin's wedding, but ends up trying to find a missing groomsmen and THEN solve a murder.  This is a silly mystery book....think Janet Evanovich.  If you are a Stephanie Plum fan, this is SORTA like that (but not quite up to the same level).  If you subtract the OVER THE TOP funny and the tad bit of dirty from the Staphanie Plum books, you get this book (there is even an ex-cop love interest).  Still good, but not sure I would read 16 in a row (mostly because there is no Ranger).  I will probaby at least give number 3 a shot.

This next book is a kid's book, but I loved it so much I thought I would share.  It is Miss Lina's Ballerinas by Grace Maccorone.  If you have a little girl, this book is perfect.  It has all the good stuff....ballerinas, rhyming, counting, and a lesson about accepting others.  Oh and it is kinda funny too.  You see there are 8 little ballerinas Christina, Justina, Edwina, Betina, Sabrina, Katrina, Marina, and Nina (ha ha) who dance it 2 lines of 4. 

 They dance all over town and are a perfect set (2 rows of 4).  BUT then Regina joins the group and all is a mess.  No more rows of 4. 

What do they do now????  Miss Lina explains how great 3 rows of 3 can be.   AH HA!!!  All is well with Miss Lina's Ballerinas.  It is so cute and sweet.  I have renewed it 3 times and must now take it back to the library...not for Emersyn, but mostly just because if I have to read books for HOURS each day to a picky 3 year old I MIGHT AS WELL ENJOY IT!!!

Happy Reading Ya'll!!!

Late Night Grocery Shopping

I FINALLY made something.  ON my sewing machine.  It is a crafting MIRACLE.  Now that I have blown the dust off the poor thing (my machine that is), I hope I will be back in the sewing saddle a little bit.  My new goal is to have Ethan's quilt DONE by the time he goes to have his surgery.  2 weeks and counting. 

What did I make.  I cute little bag.  It actually has another purpose....it is a coupon binder.  YES I have gone to the dark side and made a coupon binder, and shop at 11 at night, and YES I kinda love it now (Emily I blame you).  For years I have been a coupon MOCKER.  One of those pessimistic people who laughs and gets annoyed at people in line with their darn stack of ads and coupons, haggling over the price of salad dressing. And then I tried it =) And I liked it.  THEN I got one of THESE...

and I was hooked.  In case you missed it....that is a total of ZERO!!!

There is nothing like going into a store with your money and coming back out with your groceries AND your money!!!

ANYWAY....it was a slippery slope for a competative person like me and now I have one of these. 

 Because if you are gonna be cheap.... you may as well look good doing it!!! I bought the pattern from Stylin Binders. I thought theirs were super cute and probably would last longer, but I needed a sewing project to jump start my life again.  It was super easy to make...even holding a baby with one arm...ha!

I got the fabric at Hobby Lobby a long time ago.  It was going to be a dress for Emersyn...change of plans.  The fabric is corduroy and super soft and yummy.  I probably should have used home decor heavy duty stuff....but I didn't want to leave the house. 

I took my bag out for a doublers test run last night and it worked like a champ.   The sides are velcro flaps....

See.

It opens right on up on both ends.

And there is all the couponey goodness.  Also a couple of pockets.  HANDY!!!  This would really work for ANY type of binder you carry with you.  If I was still coaching (miss you guys), this would work great for practice.  ANYWAY...I love it!!!

NOW I can get my ZERO total receipts and my Albertsons game pieces (oh yes I do) and put them in my little pocket...close up my binder...and bring it all home safe and sound to show off to the HUBS (who is already asleep on the couch).  Being married to ME is exhausting...I have to admit =)

Once upon a time...

I totally stayed up all night watching the Royal Wedding.  I cannot resist a good Fairytale.  I LOVED IT!!   I will admit that I was only up because I had to feed Baby E.  But that was at 1:45.  At 5:15 though he was fast asleep and I was still VERY enthralled by the whole thing. 

How many girls have pretended to be a PRINCESS???  How many little girls every day put on plastic high heels and a tiara and prance about the house "dancing" with Prince Charming.  I know Emersyn is only 3 and already wants to grow up to be a princess or a doctor.  Who can blame her???  Even as she watched the news this morning she recognized the loveliness of the Princess and said..."Oh there is her Prince Charming.  They are going to get married and live Happily Ever After."   Oh I hope you are right little girl!!!

Now I realize I am not British.  AND I realize we fought pretty hard to rid ourselves of a Monarchy, but WOW.  I mean I have NEVER thought....OH I wish I was Chelsea Clinton.  Or OH I hope I grow up to be First Lady.  But a Princess.  I could get used to that.  I also realize I am a chubby 31 year old housewife.  The odds of becoming a Princess....NOT GOOD.   BUT  I COULD be a Princess.  That is what makes it so lovely I guess.  The fact that she started off life like every other little girl and now is in line to be a QUEEN.  

Speaking of Queens...what a cutie.  I look like a ghost in yellow, but she really pulled it off.  I hope I am so lovely at 85 years old.  And they said that she attended over 300 state events last year.  What a work horse. 

 Now I know I could have watched re-plays of the wedding and gotten to sleep a little bit, but what a ONCE IN A LIFETIME thing.  I remember staying up all night and watching the footage of Princess Diana on the night she died.  OH how that affected all of us non-monarched Americans.  Good thing we separated ourselves from those horrible Brits:)  I guess we did not separate ourselves QUITE as much as we thought. 

Old people can see footage of the Moon Landing, Kennedy Assasination, Martin Luther King Speech....you know all of those monumental moments and say....I remember the day that happened I was.....

I can look back and say....I watched that wedding live in the middle of the night on the night that my little darling girl turned 3.  She is my sweet little Princess!!!

I cannot resist a Disney ending in a movie.  I cannot resist a love story in a book.  AND I cannot resist a good wedding. 

Who would not want to get married in THIS beautiful place.  I am a wanna be world traveler.  I hope that some day I can go and see ALL of the places I only read about.  I LOVE reading about Kings and Castles, and Knights and Chivalry.  SOME DAY I will go here and say...HEY this is just where the wedding reception was......or hey those are the crown jewels that Kate wore to her wedding. 

SOME DAY I will walk the British streets and wear a funny hat.  SOME DAY I will visit Buckingham Palace and Clarence House and Westminster Abbey and Hyde Park and....oh  SOME DAY!!! 

But for today I got to pretend...or ATTEND as Emersyn calls it. 

What a beautiful day.  I am glad I got to experience even one SMALL part of it.  What a wonderful chance to get lost in the world of love and grandeur, pomp and princes, dreams and fantasy.  What a day to forget about politics and money and diapers and just remember what it is like to be a newlywed again. 

What a day to begin believing AGAIN in Happily Ever Afters....

A New Year of Books

I got a pretty slow start on the reading this year.   I waited until April to start reading again....I have been a BIT busy=)  I finally decided...hmmmm...if I am gonna sit in a rocking chair and feed Kiddo for 24 hours per day (may be a high estimate), why not read while I am doing it???  Sometimes I read and sometimes I watch Gilmore Girls.  It is a rough life I live here!!! 

BOOK 1, The Amish Midwife by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould. 

Since a good part of my reading happens at 2, 3, 4, 5 in the morning, I needed something easy to follow and that did not take too much brain power.  No Crime and Punishment or Wuthering Heights for me these days.  This book was great.  The main character is an adopted child (now an adult), who wants to find her biological mother after her adoptive parents both pass away.  She is a midwife, and so she heads to Amish country to get the answers.  This book is a bit of a mystery.  You keep getting clues about her family until you are able to piece the whole puzzle of her past together.  I LOVE learning about the Amish culture.  I find it super interesting.  At one point she breaks up an underage drinking party where a bunch of Amish kids are throwing a bon fire...in there dresses and bonnets.  I love that.  I can just imagine driving a horse and carriage to a kegger.  FUNNY!!  Anyway.  This is a cute book.

Book 2---Wildflower Bride by Mary Connealy

My mom gave me this book to read.  It was a very typical Christian Western story.  Love and guns and horses OH MY!!!  Again...good for a non-thinking book.  The main character is a cowboy who is in love with a wild women.  She has been raised by Indians for most of her life and lives like a Native American.  They have a few mishaps in the book and have to fight against some cattle thieves/Indian killers.  Cute little happy love story.  Not gonna win the Pulitzer.

Book 3--Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

This book was labeled as a Christian book, but I think they got their stickers mixed up.  This was CLEARLY a fantasy book.  IF it is a Christian book, it must be a VERY deep metaphorical book that I did not understand.  Anyway.  After getting over the fact that it was about dragons and far away lands, I kinda loved this book.  It was TOTALLY different from what I normally read.  I am not really a Sci-Fi fantasy kinda gal---Yes I read Twilight.  BUT this one kept me hooked.  The main character is a Princess who is beginning to get suitors.  She is trying to find her true love when her kingdom is attacked by a DRAGON.  You heard me...a dragon.  It all goes Fantasy-ey after that=)  I liked everything about this book EXCEPT...the last page which read....THE STORY HAS JUST BEGUN....Coming soon....

ARGHHH a series.  And lucky me...this one was just put out, which means the next one is probably  a year away from coming out.   Darn those dragons!!

Anyway.  I may have started of slow, but then 3 in about a week.  NOT TOO SHABBY!!!

2010 Book Review

I am still alive.  some days I do not feel like it...but alive I am!!!  I have spent VERY little time in my craft room and almost zero time sewing or doing ANYthing very productive.  BUT the last couple of weeks I have FINALLY gotten back to reading.  I REALLY like looking back at what I have read in 2010, so I want to make another list for 2011.  BUT I need to finish off last year FIRST. 

The last two books I read in 2010 were from the same series, THE KINGDOM AND THE CROWN.  I read the 1st book a while back and decided to continue on.  These books are FICTIONal accounts of the life and times of Jesus Christ.  Book 2 followed many fictional characters as they accepted Jesus as their Savior and began to join him.  Jesus is a character in the book, along with the 12 Apostles.  It is great to read the events of the New Testament (healings, miracles, teachings, etc), in an easy to read manner.  It combines all of the gospels too, making the timeline flow in a way I had never known. 

Book 2, BEHOLD THE MAN, is not as easy to read.  This book continues to story of ALL of the characters, but it focus on the last days of Christ and the death of Jesus.  Even though it was a great experience to read through these events and learn more about the Savior, it was hard to take at some times.  Sometimes I had to put the book in time out and take an emotional break.  It may have just been been because I was pregnant though =)  If you are a Christian, these books are amazing.  I would recommend them to anyone.  I think we can all stand to learn more about Jesus, and these books help make it easier. 

SOOO the grand total for the year, 39 books.  Not bad!!!  Here is the final list. 

* = a book I would recommend

*39.  Behold The Man---Gerald Lund

*38.  Come Unto Me---Gerald Lund

*37. Simply Sara--Hillary Manton Lodge

*36. Somewhere a Song---Judith Pella

*35. She Walks in Beauty--Siri Mitchell

34. Sixteen Brides---Stephanie Grace Whitson

*33. Written on the Wind--Judith Pella

32. Morning's Refrain--Tracie Peterson

31. Dawn's Prelude---Tracie Peterson

*30. Plain Jayne---Hillary Manton Lodge

*29. Bound----Sally Gunning

28. Lavender Morning---Jude Devereaux

27. The Best Of Times---Anita Stanfield

26. Angels Fall---Nora Roberts

25. Honest Illusions---Nora Roberts

*24. Splendor---Anna Godbersen

*23. Envy---Anna Godbersen

*22. Rumors---Anna Godbersen

*21. The Luxe----Anna Godbersen


*20. Sarah's Key---Tatiana De Rosney

19. The Queen's Governess---Karen Harper

18. The House at Riverton---Kate Morton

17. Twilight of a Queen--Susan Carroll

16. The King's Grace--Anne Easter Smith

15. Days of Gold---Jude Devereux

14. Crocodile on the Sandbank---Elizabeth Peters

*13. Graceling--Kristin Cashore

12. The Heiress--Jude Devereux

11. A Knight In Shining Armor--Jude Devereux

10. North by Northanger----Carrie Bebris

9. Mistress of the Sun---Sandra Gulland

*8. I Heard That Song Before--Mary Higgins Clark

7. Plum Lucky--Janet Evanovich

6. Plum Lovin'--Janet Evanovich

5. Key of Valor--Nora Roberts

4. Key of Knowledge--Nora Roberts

3. Key of Light--Nora Roberts

2. No Place Like Home---Mary Higgins Clark

*1.The Writing On The Wall----Dean Hughes