A Day Early…...

No, it's not Sunday (my normal posting day), it's just that I had a lull in my life today and decided to post a day early for once.  Hope I didn't get you confused.  lol  

First off, I want to thank you all for all your nice Anniversary Wishes for hubby and I last week.  That was so sweet of you!  We had a marvelous day……..not my "going out for" pizza or burger supper, like I had anticipated, but instead a full barbecue that we hosted for the kids and their families.  Once I heard one family was stopping in, we invited the other and decided to make an afternoon out of it.  A bit more expensive than I had expected, but what the heck???  The weather was perfect, and everyone had a nice time, so that's all that counts!

Check out this next picture (and I'm sorry it's foggy, but I had to zoom in so I wouldn't scare him away.)  Do you see the teeny tiny reddish squirrel on top of the lower arm of the shepherd's hook?  Honestly, he was only about 9 inches, body to tip of tail.  I did a search and think he is a baby red squirrel (who loves bird seed, I might add!)  Even the Doves are bigger than him. 

Then, even though I did send out two envelopes to my little ones this week, one was a duplicate of something I have already showed you so I posted only one.  I should have put a white spot in her eyeballs though.  I think she would have been cuter.  Needless to say, she is a fairy.

Then, (much to my DH's chagrin) I got another delivery from Amazon this week.  I really have to stop this buying……really!  Good thing I have a lot of relatives and friends that can borrow these after I'm done.  (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!)

Good thing I read 6 books this week.  (Actually only 5 in full since I really skimmed one that just wasn't doing it for me.  lol)

A MAN CALLED OVE    Debut              by                  Fredrik Backman
THE BLACK HOUR        Debut             by                  Lori Rader-Day
ONE LAVENDER RIBBON                    by                  Heather Burch
THE VACATIONERS   (skimmed)          by                  Emma Straub
LAST TO KNOW                                  by                   Elizabeth Adler
THE DEATH FACTORY  (only 87 pgs)   by                  Greg Iles

The first two were the best….by FAR!!!  Don't bother with the rest, really!  Of course, once I finished A MAN CALLED OVE, I don't think anything could have measured up.  It was one of the best books I have read in my life!!!  Seriously!  This debut book was written by a man in Sweden and already was an international best seller by the time it hit our shores. It was recently released July 15th in English.  I'm telling you, I laughed out loud (all by myself) so many times, I couldn't even count….and then I cried too…..big real tears.  Do yourself a favor, and even if you don't read much, get this book from your library and read it and savor the emotions you will go through.  Rarely does a book come along like this…..believe me!  I ordered it from Amazon for our own library after borrowing it from our public library.  I can't wait to pass it on to everyone I know!!!  I think you will feel the same.  Read the reviews and see for yourselves……please!!  You will thank me later!

So, have a good week and happy sewing, or reading, or gardening, or cooking, or whatever your heart desires!  I am going to start thinking about a family swim party that we are hosting next Sunday.  Whew….always something!      

42 years is a long time!!

Happy Anniversary to me!  And to my sweetie too!  We've been married 42 years today and I can hardly remember where all those years went.  Seems like yesterday that I was packing to fly to Las Vegas to get married.  (I think we were ahead of the game on destination weddings.  lol)  Let the celebrations begin………(probably take out pizza or perhaps burgers at our favorite burger joint tonight….we really do it up big, you know!) While we both read our books today.  lol  

Naturally, I sent out envelopes this week (and a few last week which I failed to show you.)

And then, of course, I ordered a few more books.  (I know, don't yell at me!  I do have to stop this crazy buying!  I have at least 25 now in a stack to read on my dining room table and I think I still have some that have yet to be delivered from Amazon.)

Thankfully, I was able to finish 6 books this week.  (Well, almost……I did skim two after I had completed about 150 pages in each.  For some reason, they just didn't "do it" for me.)

"Looking for Salvation"  Debut                  by       Susan Gregg Gilmore
"Obitchuary"       Debut                              by       Stephanie Hayes
"The Shadow Tracer"                                 by       Meg Gardiner
"Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt"  Debut          by       Beth Hoffman
"Landline"                                                  by        Rainbow Rowell
"Life Drawing"   Debut                              by        Robin Black

# 2 and #3 were the ones where I skimmed the endings…..especially "Obitchuary".  That author tried too hard to be funny.  Sad!  It could have been so good!  "Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt" is an older book.  My sister recommended it to me as one of her favorites of all times, and it was okay, but I compared it to the "Mitford Series" by Jan Karon which I read years ago and enjoyed tons more!!!  The highlight of the bunch this week was the first one, "Looking for Salvation" by Susan Gregg Gilmore.  It was a light, fun read that made me smile!  The last two are new releases that I borrowed from the library and if I were you, I wouldn't bother.  Both had decent reviews and I thought they would be good, but I was wrong!  Maybe I'm just too old for some of this crazy stuff??  Last night though, I started reading "A Man Called Ove" which is another new release and so far, I am loving it, so who knows?  It too, is another debut, so time will tell.

So, that's about the news here.  Have a fun week my friends and stay well!  And thanks for visiting!  I know I'm not sewing now and you might be missing that and all I can say is I'm sorry.  Not in the mood lately, I guess!  Hopefully, by the time I read more books, I'll be inspired again.

The Artist

To say that I am extremely proud would be putting it mildly!!!  My sweet 6 year old great niece, Audrey, is the newest artist in the family.  She not only won the 2nd place best painting for her whole kindergarten group (5 classes) in her school, but recently won an honorable mention in her community for artwork done on location by artists from all age groups.  (Of course my sister had to bribe her with lemon drops and ice cream to get the 3rd drawing (the winner) out of her because she was getting bored, but we don't talk about that.  lol)  These are some of the papers she showed me recently that she did in school this year…….with #3 being one of the winners.

I'll show you the envelopes I sent next week!

Then, I got an Amazon order.  I LOVE Amazon!!  I fill up my cart and then clear it out and back and forth so often you wouldn't believe it.  These are the books that I finally bought.  I already finished "Good Sam" (a debut) and "Frozen"!  Both were good, but "Good Sam" was the better of the two!

Besides those two, I also read, "I Thought I Knew You" by Kate Moretti which was really good too.  The BEST by far (and I REALLY LOVED IT) was, "One Plus One" by Jojo Moyes.  It's a recent hardcover release that I borrowed from the library and it was SOOOO good, I hated for it to end and I'm so jealous that all of you still have the pleasure of reading it.  If you recall, Jojo Moyes recently had another book ("Me Before You") on the bestseller list.  "One Plus One" is better!!!

So, that's the news of the week.  Yippee hooray, I finally finished my last swap quilt (which I had been putting off) and now I need to collect goodies to send along with it to my partner.  Stay tuned!  Have a happy week my friends and enjoy yourself!!

Over 100 books and counting…..

Not much happening this past week other than typical 4th of July festivities, so I don't have much to show you.  First off, here are the envelopes I sent off this week.  The first one I called, "Flower Girl", the 2nd, "Friends", and the 3rd envelope contained a book titled, "Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew Babysitting Bandit", so naturally I had to draw something to depict the title.  Audrey always loves it when I give her a hint to the title of the books enclosed and she thought the babysitting envelope was a hoot!  That little girl has a marvelous sense of humor for only being 6 years old.

And then…….where are the trumpets????……..I've read over 100 books so far this year already, if you can believe?  I suppose that's what happens when you don't sew anymore, huh?  (Although I do have one swap quilt to make yet for July, so I better get going this next week.)  Anyway, these are the ones I read this week:

"A Place at the Table"                                   by               Susan Rebecca White
"Everything I never Told You"  debut              by               Celeste Ng
"Home Sweet Anywhere" (true story)              by               Lynne Martin
"Third Rail: An Eddy Harkness novel"  debut   by               Rory Flynn

Nothing was earth shattering, but I did enjoy the last two a lot.  "Home Sweet Anywhere" is about a couple who "re-found" each other after 35 years, got married and decided to sell most everything they owned and travel around the world before it was too late. Both close to the 70 age mark and healthy, it told of their adventures and joys.  I sure wish I was that healthy and rich……although I am close to that 70 mark….ugh! I'd do it in an instant…………..(well, maybe not??)  Then, the last book was a surprise.  I had read a review by a book blogger BOUNDBYWORDS which sounded like something I'd like, so I borrowed it from the library and loved it.  I think Rory Flynn just might have another Jack Reacher (author-Lee Child) on his hands.  That character is begging for his own series!!  (And….it was short at only 212 pages…..wow!)

So, that's the news of the day (and week).  Temps all week never went above the low 70s so we haven't had too many visitors to swim in the pool so far this summer.  I'm hoping that will change!  I love to watch the kids having fun.

Now, I'm off to the store.  We've having company tonight so some snacks I must get!  Enjoy your week, my friends and do something fun for yourselves……..and read a book!  I can't believe how many good reads are out there!  Today I started, "I Thought I Knew You" by Kate Moretti and I'm loving it already!