We Almost Have A Mailbox Again...

We are so close to actually getting back to normal mail delivery.

I have stressed all week over mail.

Our mailbox was killed right after Christmas.

RIP...

pretty cedar post with finial and lovely white mailbox.  You served us well for the short time you were with us.

It was destroyed along with our 25 mph street sign.

So sad.

This was the fourth time.

Our mailbox has been batted, hit, ripped off and now plumb run over.

We don't have good luck with our mailboxes.

Lucy and I watched while Dennis dug a hole...removed shards of cedar post,

poured in cement,

only made one extra trip to the hardware store, 

and then finally put in the post .

After much sighing and groaning.

Oh...

and one "Patty, could you just get me a drink of water...I think I am going to faint".

I guess actually digging as opposed to watching someone dig...

 is harder work.

I have been waiting for our mail lady every day so that she won't have to jump out of her truck and bring me down the mail.

When I am not there she brings it down to me anyway...people are so sweet and kind and nice.

So...tomorrow...we will have a bright shiny new mailbox.  This time white on white.

It's kind of fun to change it out all the time.

We never get tired of our mailbox.

Because it could be gone tomorrow.

Hopefully you are having a lovely Saturday!!!

This is dinner tonight...

We Should Really Just Be Reading...

There are so many amazing wonderful beautiful books out there.  So many favorite and new authors to explore.  How can all of this lovely reading be managed?

It's easy.

I have come up with the perfect solution.

I used to do it with my second graders every single day at different times.

Drop everything you are doing and read!!!

Oh my.

With my second graders...the lively ones...it meant a mad dash to the shelves...until I took a minute off of their recess for the time that they spent fiddling and looking for a book.

Slowly they learned to keep their library books close by.

And they would actually look through our shelves and choose a book in the morning.

First mostly picture books.

Then books that I read to them.

And eventually chapter books.

And pretty soon everyone in my class became a book lover.

That was my gift to my students.

Now it's my gift to me.

I am dropping everything to read.

I can't stand not to.

Here are some new ones from NetGalley.

Shouldn't we all drop everything and just read?

 

 

Please Don't Ask Me To Do This...

Not this little guy but probably his brother/sister was in our basement last night.

I have been telling my husband that the noises he has been hearing are his imagination.

Yep.

Not.

We almost took Lucy to the vet because she refused to go downstairs to the basement  to her litter box.

She would go down a few steps and stop and listen...

she was freaking me out.

I thought she was ill.

She would race to the basement and scream.

We have been giving her calming sprays.

Turns out she was perceptive.

As was Dennis.

We have moved her litter box to the laundry room and barricaded the basement door.

Dennis has been putting peanut butter in a cute little trap that just catches the little varmint.

We had no clue what it was.

Our thoughts ranged from massive rodent to deer to fox.

We should have known better.

We have had a squirrel in our house in almost every state we have lived in.

When we lived in St. Louis a flying squirrel was in the pocket of my robe.

I found that out when I tried to put on my robe.

They are protected and we had to have wildlife agents in to save him.
We have no clue how they get in but the one we found last night did not want to leave.
He was calm and quiet and full of organic peanut butter.
Lucy refused to look at him...or rather she took one look and raced back upstairs.
Dennis wants me to go into the basement to see if he came back in again.
Wasn't there a movie about squirrels jumping on people's heads and attacking them?
I couldn't work out this morning because of that issue.
He can check the basement when he comes home this evening.
Lucy and I are staying upstairs in the squirrel free zone.

Just finished reading this...ooh it was great fun...different and lots of excitement.

Isn't this a great time of year to cozy up with a great book?

Help!!!

This was in our basement last night!!!


Why? Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Books I Can't Wait To Read...

 

I have to read these soon...they sound delicious, don't they?

OMG...the 1950's...a mystery, found bones, a mysterious drifter and a young girl with an agoraphobic mother...what else is there?

This is a quirky novel...high school new girl and a mysterious loner she has to sit next to.

This has my name written all over it.

A mystery with "shocking secrets" and "dark and distressing matters".

Need I say more?

A murder on the Fair Isles...Detective Jimmy Perez...cold calculating crime...OMG...

does it get any better than this one?

This is why I love to read...I can be on a plane or waiting in line or on a drive trip to somewhere and these are at my fingertips!!!

What are you just itching to get your hands on soon?

GoodReads Is Kind Of Magical...

It is sort of almost magical to enter into a new year.
I mean...
yesterday didn't really feel very different.
But today does...
My first sign was that Goodreads took away all of the 165 books I read last year and organized them for me by the way I rated them.
Magically.
Then the 2012 Goodreads Challenge came up.
And it starts all over again.
I already finished one book.
Not that I am racing anyone...at all.
Goodreads even took the books on my virtual shelves and gave me even more recommendations based on what I virtually shelved there.
Gosh.
I really didn't need that one.
But I have it.
They know me so well.
Anyway...I am more organized this year.
I am not just oohing and ahhing over the books that come to my door.
I am stacking them neatly in the order I am going to review them.
Take that,  Excel Spreadsheet...and thank you for this idea, Laurel!!!

I am going to give myself weekly reading/reviewing goals...
and then a reward.
That should keep me on my toes in 2012.

This was the first book I read in 2012. 

A sweet quirky high school freshman with a potty mouth to die for.

He has something to say about everything as his parents go through a family crisis.

He deals with being called gay and being bullied and finding love and losing love and irritable bowel syndrome.

I could not stop sort of inside laughing at this book.

I am not an outside laugher.

It was clever and real and different.

The kids were clever and the teachers were clever.

This book cries out that it is clever and quirky and snarky.

It was great fun.

Goal 1...done...reward...coming.

What book are you choosing as your first 2012 reading experience?

I need to know!!!



Are You Superstitious?

There are far too many good luck traditions that must be executed on New Year's Day.

New Year's Day is always a stressful food day for me.

We have lived all over the country and we have too many food traditions

going around in our heads.

Plus I know I read way too much...

Do we eat pork and sauerkraut?

Do we eat Hoppin' John?

Do we eat black eyed pea salad?

Should the black eyed peas be fresh, frozen or canned?

Do we eat greens?

All of the above are supposed to be lucky foods.

Then there is a list of things you should not eat on New Year's Day.

You should not eat lobster on January 1st.

Nor should you eat chicken.

It has something to do with the way they swim and walk.

I think they do both backwards.

And according to Epicurious you can't eat enough lentils...they are the luckiest legume of all.

Darn.

And then there are cakes and puddings that have coins or nuts hidden inside...if you find the hidden treat you will have tons of money all year long.

We are having Jello for dessert...kind of hard to hide a nut in see through food.

You might be wondering why Jello?

My mom always made Jello with nuts and bananas and Cool Whip for a Sunday treat.

Sometimes I crave it.

Today is one of those days...only we are having real whipped cream from a can that you spritz...Den and I can't wait.  It's ok because it came from Whole Foods and it's organic.

Oh and the Jello is organic, too...and in little cups...black cherry.

Thank you, Whole Foods.

But the tradition I love most is the one my friend Elisabeth shared...

Italians believe that you should wear red underwear on New Year's Day...new red underwear.

And you will be lucky all year long.

So...

with that I wish good luck and an awesome year to all of my family and friends.

And don't forget to buy red underwear for next year!!!

What are you doing to bring luck your way this year?