2007 Books

74 Seasise Avenue
Acid Row
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
Anodyne Necklace, The
Astrid & Veronika
Big Cherry Holler
Big Stone Gap
Brave New World, The
C is for Corpse
Cat Who Read Backwards, The
Catcher in the Rye, The
Children of Men
Circle of Quilters
Clan of the Cave Bear, The
Club Sandwich
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime, The
D is for Deadbeat
Dante Club, The
Dark Room, The
Deep Storm
Deer Leap, The
Dirty Duck, The
Dream When You're Feeling Blue
E is for Evidence
East of Eden
Endless Steppe
Ethan Frome
F is for Fugitive
Five Bells and Bladebone, The
Five People You Meet in Heaven, The
Flowers for Algernon
Forever in Blue
G is for Gumshoe
Glass Castle, The
Grapes of Wrath, The
H is for Homicide
Handmaid's Tale, The
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Help the Poor Struggler
Home to Holly Springs
Horse You Came in On, The
Husband, The
I am the Running Footman
I is for Innocent
If Angels Fall
J is for Judgement
Jerusalem Inn, The
Jimmy
Julie & Julia
Keeping Faith
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
Man With A Load of Mischief, The
Memoirs of a Geisha
Memory Keeper's Daughter, The
Mercy
Michael Crichton Trio
Mists of Avalon
Nativity Story, The
Next
Night of the Jaguar, The
No Way Back
No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, The
Of Mice and Men
Old Contemptibles, The
Old Fox Deceiv'd, The
Old Silent,The
Once Upon A Day
Ordinary Heroes
Outsiders, The
Playing for Pizza
Queen of the Broken Hearts
Red Leaves
Reed's Beach
Road, The
Sandcastles
Scold's Bridle, The
Shoot The Moon
Single Shard, A
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Stolen Child, The
Tenth Circle, The
Time and Again
Time Traveler's Wife, The
Track of the Cat
Valley of Bones
Water for Elephants
Wedding in December, A
Wheel of Darkness Wild Fire

So Little Time...

I was supposed to be off work tomorrow. But I have to go in at 8am and work until 6pm. This means I am working 4 -10 hour days in a row. I know that I was just off last weekend and then off Christmas Day but I really need a day to catch up. Christmas was spent with family in fellowship and preparations. I need to spend time paying bills, organizing and straightening, and eventually putting away decorations. I have my first meeting as president of my Homemaker's Club in a few weeks and I need to sit down and prepare for that, also. I haven't cross-stitched in almost 2 weeks and I am way behind on my reading. We have another get-together on Sunday and then Tuesday (after working New Year's Eve) we are taking a little family trip. I really needed tomorrow off. But don't worry I am going to make them pay me dearly for the pleasure of my company.

Christmas Evening

Tonight is Christmas evening. Presents have been unwrapped. Lots of food has been consumed. The kids are consumed right now with the new video game console. We are sitting here relaxing and enjoying the "remains of the day." Tomorrow, hubby and I have to work and the kids have to go to their daycare.

It bothers me when people talk about wanting Christmas to be over. I think these people are probably trying to try to do to much and the spirit of Christmas has been lost to them. We spend a lot of time with family during the holidays. I always plan to cook a lot more than I actually have time for. I always get a little carried away with the decorating. I want the holidays to be so special and sometimes think that the results are actually in my power. When in truth the kids are happy without much work. Give them time to play with their new toys. Don't ask them to get dressed before noon.

I have a large extended family. My cousins are all grown with large families of their own and when we get together now our kids play like we did. I enjoyed so much spending time with the family.

I hope you had a good holiday with your family and find this season peaceful and not too over scheduled. Take time to sample the holiday dishes you've worked so hard to prepare. Watch a movie or watch your kids playing video games. Spend time catching up with family. Take a drive and enjoy the lights. Remember what is important in life regardless of your particular Faith.

Twelve Things I Love About Christmas

or some similar named mem....

1. Family - I have a large one and we have several "get-togethers" with lots of:

2. Food - There is always lots of good food. We have dressing and fruit salad at Christmas as well as all kinds of different sweet foods. Fudge is important, too.

3. Christmas music. My absolute favorite Christmas album is December by George Winston. It is so relaxing to play this album with only the Christmas lights on and a good cup of warm drink.
My favorite Christmas song is "Please Come Home for Christmas" by the Eagles.

4. Christmas lights - all over the yard, all over the house.

5. Christmas smells- vanilla candles and cinnamon potpurri. Hot apple cider cooking on the stove. Rolls browning in the oven. Fresh pine boughs.

6. Christmas Cards - from people you see every year and those you haven't seen in years. I love seeing those pictures to see how much the kids have grown.

7. Snow. No, really, I like snow at Christmas it's just that we don't actually see snow on Christmas. Maybe 2 of my 30+ odd Christmases have been white.

8. Presents - shopping for them, wrapping them, exchanging them!

9. Bob's Old Fashioned Candy Canes and Creme Drops. I know this is part of the food category but these are special candies that you only have at Christmas.

10. Stockings. We open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve but our stockings are still saved for Christmas morning and it is still exciting to see what's inside.

11. Christmas ornaments. I have lots and lots of Christmas ornaments. More, really than I can put on 3 trees. This year we decorated the one large tree plus two 3 foot trees for the kids rooms. I think we put about half the ornaments up.

12. Gingerbread House. Ever year the kids and I decorate a Gingerbread House. Unlike the previous two years this year the house kit did not come readily assembled. There was a little panic while I tried to assemble the pieces but we got through it and the house turned out great. I think we have about 5 houses on top of my kitchen counters now.

Saturday Morning

Whew! What a week I've had. It's Saturday morning now and I'm having a little quiet time with my breakfast before I get to work cleaning and cooking. Here are some of the things I'll be making over the next few days:

Peanut Butter Fudge
Peanut Butter Popcorn
Magic Cookie Bars
Fruit Salad
Smoked Salmon Dip
Baked Beans
Mashed Potatoes Au Gratin
Fudge - if time
Tiramasu Trifle

The kids are in the other room playing some annoying-sounding game they got from the Grandma yesterday. Of course, buying loud noise-making toys is a grandparent's prerogative. But they are disturbing my quiet, peaceful breakfast. That's okay, in a few minutes I'm going to put them to work.

Hope everyone has a delightful Christmas Holiday!!!

Sunday

This morning we did not go to church so that I could sleep late before going in to work at 10am. I cleaned up the kitchen and vacuumed the living room floor before I left. The house gets pretty cluttered when I work for several days in a row. I left the kids a list of chores to do during the day. They asked me to write them down for them, so they could remember.(1. Finish laundry, 2. Unload Dishwasher, 3. Read). I also asked them if they went outside to sweep the leaves out of the garage, but I didn't write that down. (The wind blows the giant leaves from our neighbors Sycamore into the garage when the door is left open.)

Tomorrow is grocery day so there is not a lot of surplus food in the house. I decided to purchase Sonic on the way home at 6pm for supper. My son wanted a slushie but I said, "no." I wasn't inclined to bring home a treat and it was pretty cold out to think about slushies. He said, "You never buy us slushies". I really hate those "absolute" words.

When I got home I discovered the kids had played outside but hadn't swept the garage. Which is understandable because I didn't write it down. My son said he forgets if I don't write it down. I asked them if they completed the list and they said they had. I complained about the popcorn in the living room floor and the leaves they had tracked in the kitchen, plus the mess they had left at the kitchen table. I was feeling a little under appreciated. Of course, you're wondering why I bothered cleaning this morning if they would just mess it up again. But I knew that I would be too tired tonight and that I had to work all day Monday. Imagine what the house would look like by Tuesday!

I asked the kids to bring the laundry into the living room so that I could fold it. Sunday's laundry consists of two loads of the kids laundry which I do every Sunday. My husband is really good about doing our laundry on the Saturdays when I work. My son got the load out of the dryer and brought them to me. I started folding and had folded most of the top load in the basket when I realized the bottom load had not ever been washed. Now I'm going to be up late folding laundry.

I'm not feeling the least bit guilty about not buying my son that slushie.

Busy Week

Tonight is my Homemaker's Club Annual Christmas Dinner and Gift Exchange. We have our dinner catered in the conference room of a local business. Dessert follows at one of the member's house. We draw names earlier in the year and exchange gifts. It is always a enjoyable evening with just the ladies.

Seems like I am so busy this time of year. There is always one or two things I forget to buy or do. I have to work all weekend and them I'm off next Tues & Thursday. I still haven't planned what desserts I'm making and I need to buy the groceries on Monday.

Next Saturday night I have planned a dinner out with my parents if I can arrange a baby-sitter. We used to go out together frequently before the kids came along and in the early years. But in the last year or two it has become increasingly difficult to find a baby-sitter.

We are going to Boaz for a family gathering the following Sunday. I have to work Christmas Eve until 4pm. That evening we will have a nice family dinner followed by the opening of gifts. On Christmas Day we have our family gathering with my Dad's clan.

Did I forget hubby's Christmas party next Wednesday evening and a Brownie workshop on Thursday. Also, there is the cookie exchange with the ladies in my SS class on Tuesday night. And of course there is a lot of baking to be done and always the last minute stuff. And let us not forget the gathering with hubby's family the Sunday after Christmas.

We have a small family trip planned after New Year's to recover from all the excitement.

Long Time No Post

I didn't really mean to quit posting. But, it has been several weeks nonetheless. When I went back to working full-time at Wal-Mart the appeal of spending time on the computer was lost. When I am home I don't even want to check my email, much less spend hours browsing other peoples blogs and finding witty things to post. Call it laziness if it makes you feel better.

I have been really happy back at WM, though, and am confident I've made the right decision.

We've been very busy. I got the house decorated for Christmas. This weekend we went to Auburn for my cousin's wedding and just got back this afternoon. It was a beautiful wedding. Rick and I enjoyed taking a walking tour with our kids of the University Campus (where we both attended) last evening. A lot has changed since we graduated.

Christmas is approaching fast. I have all my presents wrapped except for whatever last minute things come up. I really need to finish my Christmas cards and get them in the mail. I have my deer and Palm Trees up in the front yard.

We have finished the second season of Lost and are anxiously waiting the 3rd season release on Tuesday. To say we are hooked would be an understatement. I don't know what we will do when we have to start watching it only once a week with the fourth season in January.

There is so much going on that sometimes everything is just a blur. We have Christmas parties and family gatherings coming up. The kids and I have an annual tradition of decorating a Gingerbread house. I have Dr appts for both children next week. I have to work next weekend and then my parents will be here over the holiday. Hopefully, we are taking a little trip after New Year's to recover from the rush.

I hope everyone will continue to stop by once in a while. I'll try to post at least once a week until Christmas.

Book Update

I am going to try and update my book list now. I don't think I put any books I've read since Fall Break. I've slowed down a lot on my reading because I changed jobs.

Of the books that I've read since I last did a book post the most notable are:

1) Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon. This book is about Father Tim from Karon's Mitford Series. The book details his journey to his childhood home after a 30+ year absence. A lot of questions are answered for Timothy and a lot of old wounds are healed. Definitely a must read for fans of the series but not the best book to start if you haven't read the others.

2) Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This is the latest Agent Pendegrast Novel. And while it is an independent book and not a sequel to the others, I would not start with this book. It is certainly not among the best produced by this talented writing team. The bizarre circumstances that the FBI agent finds himself in are starting to sound a little repetitive if not mundane. The early Pendegrast books, including Relic and Cabinet of Curiosities are much better. If you haven't read any of Child & Preston's novels I would also recommend Thunderhead or Ice Limit.

3) I am currently working my way through the Martha Grimes, Richard Jury Novels, and I finished The Old Contemptibles. I enjoyed this as much as the previous novels. I am also up to J is for Judgement in the Sue Grafton, Kinsey Milhone series and enjoyed it also. Also, for a little light reading I read the latest Cedar Cove Series paperback, 74 Seaside Avenue.

84 books