lit*chick

Mystery Monday

I plan to post in the afternoons this week as our church has VBS. So I have to get all of us out of the house everyday at 8:30. Since I've homeschooled up through this year, we aren't exactly a morning family. This will all change this August as KWB & Caleb head off to school. I suppose this is good practice for us, but by the end of the week we'll definitely be feeling it.

So I thought I'd give a mystery book recommendation this Monday. I don't read a lot of mysteries, but when I do I don't want to be able to "figure it out". My friend Monica gave me a collection of Father Brown mysteries by G. K . Chesterton that are good for short bits - each chapter is a mystery. But for a novel length here is my pick:

I also love Sherlock Holmes, so this story has him training a young girl to solve mysteries using his methods.  I found it riveting and it remained interesting because it wasn't just one mystery strung out through the whole book.  Plus I love smart girls in books (i.e. Nancy Drew). And I thought it remained true to the Holmes character. It was recommended a few years ago by Anna Quindlen on the Today show, and we read it in bookclub. Hopefully it is easy to find in your local library, if not it is in paperback:).

We need to grab some lunch to pave the way for afternoon napping. The Owen is not used to 3 nonstop hours of fun and is almost asleep. He has requested a salad and tomato sandwich with bacon (that would be a BLT, for those of us who like to use fewer words).

Thanks to all who participated in Free Book Friday. I'll be doing it again soon. So stay tuned.

The End.

And the winner is....

April!! Don't worry he's not sticking his tongue out at you - that's a little gem just for me.  If you want to PM me on the SIStv site with your addy, I'll get the book to you. (I'm mellymel there)

Just so you all know, this giveaway was conducted impartially by allowing The Owen to choose the names as his alter ego Captain Jack Sparrow.  Halfway through he decided to return to being just plain The Owen in his cookie monster t shirt.

Do not be discouraged - we will be having Free Book Fridays at least twice a month. I will not send you books I have not read myself. But as everyone has different taste in books I cannot guarantee that you will like it. If you find that you don't enjoy it  you can always alter it, rip it up for scrappin, use it for kindling, sell it on ebay, whatever.  I appreciate everyone who left a message and said hello. I met some new friends and found some new blogs to read.

I'm also open to book recommendations. I am in no way a guru of literature, I am just a reader. If you want to talk about a book, or you read one I recommended and it stinks - tell me. I'm always curious to see how different people can interpret the same book. I am not offended by opinions that differ from mine - it usually provides for a better discussion.  Miji and I exchange piles of books all the time and rarely agree on them.

Finally, this was my answer to a scrap challenge from Ashley Wren on the SIStv website. You had to use anything except cardstock or patterned paper for the  background. So I used glass from an old frame, paint, some rubons, some beads and voila.  Have a looksie and enjoy your weekend!

The End.

Free Book Friday

Tired this morning from a fun night at the Kraus house.Thanks for good food, good drinks & good times!

We have no milk in the house so we're getting ready for a donut run. Before we go - here's the deal with the giveaway. Just leave me a comment, just say hi! I'll have The Owen pick a name tonight. I'll post the winner tomorrow and mail you this book:

chick lit for perfect for a quick, light summer read

No plans again this weekend - definitely no potty training. Surely this will change by tomorrow. I'm hoping to get some scrapping & reading time in.  Don't forget to say hello in the comments!

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don't cry for me argentina...

Let's begin with Janice's "laundry" list: the pasta sauce we love but can barely afford, go-tarts (the lazy version of poptarts), sausage & chicken & bacon (meat group, check),  peanut butter, applesauce, condiments, and fresh blueberries.  All in all a very good, well-balanced haul. Not too much sugar. Thanks mom - we will live to eat another day, Lord willing.

If you are wondering about the title of today's post, here's the deal. My hubs is currently fixated on Argentina's soccer team. He has always been a fan since the days of Diego Maradona. (no relation to Dora the Explorer) A couple of weeks ago I came home from an evening at the beloved bookstore to find him watching women's ultimate frisbee. I found that a bit odd until he 'fessed up that he had purchased the sports package from our overpriced monopoly of a cable company. Ever since then it has been all soccer all the time. Except for the night he sacrificed by letting us watch baseball's All Star game. All this to say Argentina won last night's semifinal game against Mexico. And the hubs wants to find a way to telecommute from his new and imaginary condo in Buenos Aires. 

For fans of the Owen (miss joni p.) he has been keeping a rather low profile since the great potty training debacle. He reminisces fondly about his underwearing days as mom & grammy fold and put away his collection of big boy pants. He continues to be obsessed with pirating, snacking, and counting things. During last night's storytime, the extended remix, we had a battle of the pointer fingers.  Caleb and his trusty sidekick the Owen dueled it out counting the people on each page. Every page. It was a children's book about the Empire State Building so there were lots of people. On each page. Let's count them twice, then again. My favorite number now is the one after ten - eleventeen.

Finally, a big thanks to reader Joni for the mentioning me on her blog. I am starting Free Book Friday with a giveaway so come back tomorrow for the details.

The End.

Wednesdays with Janice

Every Wednesday my mom faithfully drives 1.25 hours to come watch my children and do my laundry. I don't ask her to do the laundry. If you know her, then you know that she is the QUEEN of all things LAUNDRY. Her laundry room is bigger than my family room. And she is compelled to get clothes clean by some force that if bottled would make us rich. I could not survive a week without her. I've tried, it's not cute.

Along with her service to our family she brings non perishable food items that are so new I have never seen them at the grocery store. She might be meeting the trucks at the new Target warehouse by her home in order to get this stuff.  The latest cookies, chips, dips, and paper goods await us. I now know where my love & attraction to packaging comes from. The children bum rush her when she appears to see what kinds of goodies Grammy has brought. She also brings some rockin' fresh fruit from her local farms, to balance out the sugarfest. Just for fun, I thought I would start keeping a  log of the various and random items that enter our pantry. If there are any standouts - I'll post them here.

Mom, this is in no way meant to stop you. For one, you cannot be stopped. Since the hubs tells me I am going to be just like you (except for the laundry thing) I figured it would be a good idea to start documenting it for posterity. And really, secretly, I love it as much as the kids. It's like Christmas every week.

Also, I wanted to say I am in no way intending to complain about bookclub. I love the ladies and treasure the time we spend together each month.  I just had high hopes for this particular discussion. C'est la vie.

It is mighty difficult to read when: 1. the temp indoors is 80ish   2. there is no peace & quiet to be had living in one room with 3 boys  3. i have the attention span of gnat   4. i am addicted to the SIStv website.  I have found that short story collections are a winning solution to the problems posed above. I finished Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (see right) and was blown away.  She has been compared to Flannery O'Connor and I can totally see it. Her writing is marvelous - clean & tight -some of it disturbing, some funny. You can tell she is uber talented.  I recommend it if you like Flannery or a little bit of dark writing. It may be a little shocking otherwise.

Lastly, I can't save this until tomorrow. I need to give some etsy love here.  If you are not already an etsy addict - beware. Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade goods & artsy stuff. You buy directly from the creative people who make the items and you can get some unique things. Anyhoo - I've ordered this shirt for the Owen from KiWiCuties:

and this one for Caleb from Dogbone Art:

gotta find one for KWB now. So adorable.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

The End.

a bit of a dud

Listen, I'll be the first one to say I don't enjoy bookclub when everyone loves the book. But last night the only people who related to the book were me & Miji.  I'm a little stumped by the lack of reaction to the subject matter - it's about friendship. Expectations and the ways we fail one another- set in the most vulnerable time in girls' lives - during high school & college years.  Miji did a stellar job with the questions and made every effort to draw out some deeper themes - like the importance of gfriends in shaping who we are as wives & mothers, how "the myth" of the title applies to the way don't always present ourselves truthfully to others, how the myth of friendship can be broken when both people realize their friends aren't the people they thought... Clearly, I need to talk about it more. I'll spare you the rest, but if it piques your interest enough to pick up the book then my job here is done.

Moving on...the Owen has returned to diaper days.  My head is completely stuffed up - ears clogged, eyes watering, coughing, hacking, stuffy nose -  so i removed potty training from the list yest. I was trying to conserve energy for bookclub.  Sorry mom. We'll try again soon.  The Owen began to attempt to perform solely for the rewards  as in "put my underwear on and gimme some m&ms".  Not exactly what we were going for...

I did manage to get a couple scrapbook pages done. One is for the scrapjacked blog. The other just to use some cool paper from the SIStv collection:

Gonna be a hot one today. Stay cool.

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Bookclub Monday

No updates on the Owen. Back in underwear this morning. I must say none of this would be possible without Caleb's help. He will sit on the stairs outside the bathroom door and keep Owen company. And he is very encouraging.  Owen is still being bribed with m&ms & gum and now agrees to share with Caleb, his helper.

Tonight is bookclub - my bestest bud Miji is leading the discussion of :

Miji and I read it a few months ago and I remember not being able to put it down. So I didn't. I read it straight through and then gave it to M. She read it quickly which was a relief, because there are few things worse than wanting to talk about a book you just read  and no one else has read it.  I'm excited to talk about it with the bookclub girls to see what everyone thinks. It's best when some people don't like it. The discussion is way better when there are differing views. It's about friendship - how friends grow apart and the journey to reconciliation. A pretty universal theme, particularly among women I think.

I plan to take it easy until then. It is expected to be in the 90s here. Our upstairs A/C until still needs replacing. We are waiting for the next quote and in the meantime livin on the ledo deck (first floor).  I think the change in temperatures (within our own house) is giving me some sinus trouble or at  least a nasty head cold. So I plan to curl up on the couch, with a book of course. Not that I'll get very far between the many trips to the potty, the extra laundry, the fighting, and the requests for snackage. But it's worth a try.

Stay tuned this week - for a little treat on Friday...

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Sunday score

us: 1  the Owen: 10

in case you need the breakdown, this means he hasn't gone on the potty since yest. morning. he has gone about everywhere else though.

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control."  2 Timothy 1:7

have a restful Sunday!

     edit: new score bottom of the 3rd inning:

               us:  5  Owen: 16     

      "we can't stop him we can only hope to contain him" - espn

it's a potty, a potty potty weekend

so remember when i said we didn't have plans, apparently i was wrong...

Big Daddy K decided today was the day to potty train the Owen (3.5 years old) and then promptly went out to mow the lawn.So I put on my boxing gloves and got ready to rumble with the O.  He followed me around the house for about an hour, naked from the waist down, screaming "put onmy diaaapppeerr". Finally I manhandled him onto the potty after attempting to bribe him with a bowl of m&ms (thanks mom).  He sat their and ate them and then got off.  The O followed me around some more, his cries more urgent - as if that's possible - and he began to do the potty dance. So I hurled him into our little powder room and ... HE WENT because he couldn't hold it any longer.

Then, (what did you think it was over?) , I spent 1/2  hour bribing him with gum to put on underwear. As soon as that battle was won he promptly went outside and peed all over himself and his scooter. Yes, I know, at least he was outside.  He got all new clothes & underwear on and is eating lunch.  It's only noon so we clearly have a long day ahead. (me & Owen that is)

As I write this we have another accident. The score is  us: 1  the Owen: 2...

So please pray for us if you think about it.

Okay - here's the other thing. I love the earth as much as the next person.  I believe God created it and we need to respect God's created beauty and order by being good stewards. I recycle like a madwoman and chide my friends who don't. I lug recycling home from vacation and anywhere else I find it.  I like to buy organic stuff, I like to buy from local peeps. I'm not sure what my thoughts are on climate change, yet. I haven't read enough about it. That said - can anyone explain the resources currently being sucked from the earth in order to host this live earth concert?  How much jet fuel, electricity, car fuel, etc.. was used to get the "entertainment" and audience to the concert?  It doesn't make any sense to me so if anyone has any insight, please share.

Finally, if anyone is wondering what the kiddos are doing while I read entire books...Caleb & Owen are either playing/fighting or napping & Karl is his mother's son. He finished 2 Nancy Drew books yesterday. Followed by doing a comparative analysis of the Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew. He apparently found them to have a very similar sleuthing style... Big Daddy K has put the kabosh on further Nancy Drew reading until I can present the case for it not being a "girl" book.   

The End.

a productive day..by my standards

So, instead of picking up one of the books in the pile, I decided to pick out something a little lighter to rekindle my reading flame. I suppose it was a mini rebellion - against myself. So I chose this from my b list:

I picked it up in an online bargain bin at Amazon. Really, I chose it purely for the cover.  It was a nice, light mystery and I managed to start & finish between last night and this afternoon.

I also got a layout done. This is the Owen:

journaling reads: i should have known it was too quiet! thank goodness you used the razor from your TOY shaving kit.

And let me add that I also did 3 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and cleaned out some old kids clothes - okay mom?

We tried the sushi place close to our house tonight.  I rather liked it - it was a tad expensive but again, convenience may win out in the future. We don't have plans this weekend...I'm sure it could all change by tomorrow.

Okay - since no one has left any comments related to my next book pick (and clearly it wouldn't have mattered since I read a book not even on the list) I'm going to finish The Golden Road & Dancing Girls of Lahore.  The End.