This Week's Reads 2/21

This was supposed to go up yesterday....oh well!  Let's just pretend the date on the post is actually the date it went up, shall we?
Another busy week, so I only read one book.


My Loving Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly

This was a really emotional book for me.  And captivating.  Which is why I found myself at 5 o' clock in the morning sitting in my family, the world dark outside, sobbing my heart out.  (I suppose I should explain that I have insomnia issues and never sleep through the night...and I typically get up to have a snack, so I started reading at around 3 AM....)  Anyway, this is a good book.  It is set in a mining camp in central Utah in late 1899 and early 1900.  The tragic part of the story is that on May 1st 1900, that mining camp experienced what the worst disaster to that point in history: somewhere between 200 and 246 men and boys were killed.  The novel covers the months leading up to the mine disaster and a couple days immediately following.  I got attached to these characters, and then many of them died, leaving behind wives and children.  But what's more of course, is that this really happened.  So tragic.  But such a good read.

It is a LDS novel, but the cultural references aren't so many that it would be hard to understand if you aren't a Mormon.

Definitely worth reading.

Those are affiliate links, just FYI, folks!

This Week's Reads 2/14

Happy V-day, everyone!  Any great plans?  We went out last night to a restaurant from my Urbanspoon wishlist (Pago...I had the artisan cheese plate and the lamb sweetbreads...there are no words.....you should go if you're local) and tonight I'm makin' my husband some down-home NON fancy food.  :)  Ribs with okra and asparagus.  He'll love it.
Anyway, hope your V-day (or Singles Awareness Day) is lovely!
Confession:  I hardly read this week.  I spent most of my free time digiscrappin', which I'll post next week.  So I have only one book to share.


The Orchard by Krista Lynne Jensen

I was in the mood for a little romance, so I picked this off the shelf at the library.  I was a little disappointed when a few pages in, I discovered it was Austen fan fiction, a modern retelling of Persuasion.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoy Austen fan fiction.  Well, GOOD Austen fan fiction.  It's just this time around I didn't really want to read a story that I already know the entire plot and outcome!  :)

That being said, it was a good one.  Worth reading if you need something light!




Amazon Affiliate links, just FYI, folks!

This Week's Reads 2/7

Where did my week go?!  We've been in recovery mode from a busy busy weekend of having family in town...trying to restore order from shambles in my house and get back to actually cooking dinner!  My best reading time (nap time!) has been occupied by, well, a nap!  :)



Seed No Evil by Kate Collins
Finished up the Flower Shop mystery series...well, at least all that my library has!  The latest, Throw in the Trowel was published literally just a few days ago.  I may have to break down and buy the book brand new....
Anyway, I enjoyed this one because (spoiler alert) our beloved heroine Abby married the man of her dreams.  And I love that the series doesn't end here!  I think that would be the instinct of many authors, to wind things up with a wedding.  But life goes on!  :)





How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World by Jordan Christy

This has been an interesting read.  It's been different than I expected.  I (a 31 year old stay at home momma of three little ones) am not the target audience (I'm thinking high school and college age girls).  Also, it is, in the author's words, a guidebook.  I'd call it more self-help.  :)  I do love most of the advice she gives; however, her characterization of "Stupid Girls" rubs me the wrong way.  I mean, don't misunderstand me, I'm not excusing the actions of those "Stupid Girls," but that's just it.  I'd rather refer to them as "Girls Who Do Stupid Things."  The author is pretty harsh in her descriptions of these girls.  They are people too.  People who are doing incredibly stupid things and who no one should want to emulate, but people nonetheless.  Anyway, let me step off my soapbox now.
The book is full of pop culture references that are already dated (published in 2009), but it's easy to do a little find and replace in your head of the examples given with those that are more current...there's always someone doing something stupid in a highly publicized way!
Overall, I enjoyed it.  If my lucky number comes up on Paperback Swap, I'll get myself a copy...to save for my girls to read when they're older.




And last but not least, I have to give a shout-out on a special deal happening right now for Nooks and Kindles.  The authors of a 7 book box set of CLEAN romances are selling it for NINETY-NINE cents right now, in an attempt to make it on the romance best seller list and get some recognition for clean romance instead of the typical bodice busting novels at the top of the list.  I fully support this endeavor.  :)  You can find them here for the Kindle and here for the Nook.

P.S....I just found out I won a giveaway for book two of one of my ALL TIME favorite series!  I've blogged both number one and two in recent months, but let me just say again.  If you haven't read The Anatomist's Wife and Mortal Arts by Anna Lee Huber, YOU SHOULD!!!!

Baby shower for C

Okay guys, can I just tell you HOW EXCITED I am to be an Auntie?!  Between the two of us, my husband and I have 6 younger siblings, but because we got married young (22!  and every year it seems younger!)  and none of them did, we have had the ONLY kids on both sides of the family.  Until now!  We've had three siblings get married in the last year and  half (M&M, B&H, A&B) and now we're getting a niece!!!!  I've waited so long!!!

So anyway, all of my husband's family was in town over the weekend because his sister came home from her mission for our church.  Couldn't miss the opportunity to throw a baby shower for my first niece!

I went with a coral and teal color scheme.  Coral because that was one of the wedding colors B&H used, so I had decorations I could use from the wedding!  Teal because I used my great-grandmother's china, which has a teal border around the edge.

Invitation

Designed in Photoshop.  Hot Air Balloon from the digiscrap kit By the Light of the Moon by Etc. by Danyale

Decorations

My favorite part from the B&H wedding was the fabric banners I sewed, and I've used them a few times since.  They are so festive and fun.

I also used the flowers from the centerpieces, added a few in teal, and hung them from the ceiling using fishing line.

Last but not least, I hung teal balloons with fishing line.  Used the marble trick (stick a marble inside before blowing up and tying off, thanks Hungry Hungry Hippos) so they would hang down straight.

Food

We all know that's what this is really about, right?  Everybody comes hoping for great food!  And rumor has it...I delivered.  :)

The menu

Savory:

Antipasto kabobs (recipe coming!)

Cucumber boats

Chicken Salad on croissants

Veggie Tray

Sweet:

Crepe bites

Cheesecake pops

Mint brownies (recipe coming!)

Pistachio & Pomegranate Dark Chocolates

Cherry & Almond White Chocolates

Drinks:

Coconut Limeade (recipe coming!)

Apple Ginger Sparkler

Entertainment/Games

I am not big on cheesy games.  So it's always interesting trying to find something fun and cute but doesn't trigger my gag reflex.  Here's what I came up with:

As the guests arrived, they each gave Mom some advice

and wrote a birthday wish for baby, to be opened on her birthday at that age.

With food, each guest took an ice cube with a little plastic baby frozen into it.  Once the ice melted and the baby was free, they had to shout "My water broke!"  The first few people won a prize.

After we finished eating, we played the Name Game.  Ahead of time, I looked up the meaning of the names of all those attending.  Then each guest wrote down a guess at the meanings of all those names.  I found that most of them didn't even know the meaning of their own names!  But I told them to get creative in their guesses, because they could get a point for a correct answer AND the momma to be would give a point for her favorite WRONG answer.  This turned out to be a hit!  Everyone really enjoyed it.

Then we moved onto opening presents.  Before each present, I asked a question, and kept tally of points.

Questions:

Who came the furthest to be here?

Who has the most kids?

Who has lived in the most different states?  Cities?

Who had the longest labor?  The shortest?

Who has the most siblings?  The least?

Who has known mother to be the longest?

Whose birthday is closest to the due date?

Whose birthplace is closest to where the baby will be born?

Who has had braces….the longest?

Who is the shortest?  The tallest?

Who has the biggest feet?  Smallest?

 At the end of presents, the winners got to pick a prize.

Prizes

There were two kinds of prizes.  Body wash (thank you B&BW semi-annual sale!) and a loofah with a tag that said "From our shower to yours!"

And a pedicure kit with either nail polish or a foot repair cream with a tag that said "You nailed it!"

Favors

As a thank you for coming, each guest got a little bag of my famous homemade honey caramel popcorn.

And that's that!  I don't get the chance to have parties like this or make food like that very often!  So this was a lot of fun for me.

I'll be back later to tell you a gross story.  Stay tuned.  :)

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3 year House-iversary!

My house right before the sun came over the mountains this morning

3 years.

This is officially the longest we have spent in any one place since we've been married.  It's actually been kind of a strange feeling.  I can feel a little itch to move on to a new adventure.  But we are settled, so I need to seek for new adventures right here at home!  That's another story for another day, however, so back to the House-iversary!

We didn't get as much accomplished this year as I would have liked.  Let's just say I greatly underestimated the amount of crazy a third child would introduce into my life.  :)

In the last year, we:

Planted two shade trees and four fruit trees in our backyard (Autumn Blaze maples, a Granny Smith, a Honeycrisp, a Bing and a Rainier).

Built a big sandbox and the base of the rest of our play structure

Built a closet organizer in our closet

Cleaned out the spare bedroom that was acting as a storage room and made it into a guest room

And....that's it.  But let's not forget folks, I did have a new baby.  And I did lots of non-house related projects, including two weddings!!!  (B&H and A&B)

Hopefully this year will be better.  I have a mountain of goals, but in the hope of keeping them realistic, here is what I really want done this year:

Build wall cabinets for bathrooms

Build jewelry cabinet for my room

Take out part of one pantry and build a desk

Pantry organization

Finish building and installing upper cabinets in my craft room!!!

Install french door on my craft room (gotta keep my wily 13 month old out!)

Paint the basement

Paint the guest room

Build two headboards

Build two nightstands

Sew curtains for each bedroom

Add deck, playhouse and slide to the sandbox/play structure base

Plant peach trees

Plant lilac bushes

Rip out shrubs that I hate in the front yard

That is kind of a lot, huh.  Ah well, better to aim for the stars and miss than aim for a cow pie and hit it.  Wish me luck!!!!

And I'll be back later in the week with the baby shower I threw over the weekend, so y'all come on back, ya hear?  ;)