Random Saturday Stuff...

I forgot to blog yesterday! Or rather I wrote a post and then got distracted and when I went back to it it disappeared but mostly because that's what the Blogger App does on my iPad...it disappears if you don't save it. Oh well...


I read Susanna Daniel's Sea Creatures all day long yesterday. I had totally forgotten that she wrote one of my all time favorite books...Stiltsville...her writing is so lovely and her stories can make you so happy and so sad. This one had some really sad parts but it was so beautiful! Frankie...the little boy in the story...so sweet and funny. Georgia...his mom...so torn. This lovely book is a must read!




Now reading this...a really yummy British mystery by an author very new to me!




Den is out playing in the yard...kitties are napping...I have an old Harry Potter on while I sip coffee and get my bearings for today...

I am making Smitten Kitchen's lazy day pizza dough later and this will be dinner...with another chopped salad!




I just bought Smitten Kitchen's cookbook and it's delightful!



Have a lovely weekend!

Happy Reading!

I've Been Chopped!

I love chopped salads! Den loves chopped salads! We are a chopped salad loving family! If we are out and there is chopped salad on the menu...we both always get it.
The only thing I do not love about chopped salad is the actual chopping! I start off with insane knife skills and perfect tiny bites but one quarter of the way through I am bored and literally toss in whole leaves of lettuce. Sigh!
Then I have to watch Den annoyingly fork up a massive lettuce leaf and maddeningly say...I thought we were having chopped salad!

So...the point of this is...Dole is making bags of chopped salad. I am in chopped salad heaven! I saw a bag on FB yesterday and literally raced to the store and now my refrigerator is stocked with chopped salads. The bag has extras which I may or may not use. We had one with dinner yesterday with just my own homemade dressing and it was so good. I think ours was filled with tiny...teeny...tiny...bites of carrot and cabbage and kale and tons of other yummy veggies! The chop is so tiny you could eat your salad with a spoon. Spoonfuls of salad! Yum!








Then...inquisitive creature that I am...I went to the Dole site and it's chock full of great recipes that use their chopped salad mixes! I may never eat an unchopped salad again!

Yum...

Guess what I am having for lunch...lol...a sandwich! Lol...

New books...Edelweiss...I really love you! Don't these covers have a mysterious feel to them?















Off to read...I am still reading this...it's about two girls...now grown...who did the very worst thing they could do when they were children...they are now living their adult lives under different names. They meet again...Jade and Bel...now Kristy and Amber...accidentally in a town where young girls are being murdered. It's so good...intense, dysfunctional, and chilling.



Happy Reading!

Yahoo! I Am Inspired!

In keeping with my one is never enough philosophy and my obsessive compulsion to buy stuff...I am discovering buried treasures on my bookcases. Apparently I bought a ton of books to inspire me and then completely forgot about them when I moved on to something else. I have been gathering them up and actually looking at them and putting them in my Bear/Inspiration Room...lol. Look at this one...I don't even remember wanting to be an explorer.



Yesterday I actually used one of them...it's a book where you fill in all kinds of lists...I am loving this...seriously!



It also gives me a chance to sort through markers and stuff and toss out the bad ones and get new ones!







I even found these awesome coloring books...really cool ones...I have no idea why I wanted these.


But it makes me think I am not that creative if I needed all this stuff to get creative...sigh!

I used to love this quirky author named Sark. All of her books were printed like this and I loved it!




Oh my...

Still reading this...soooo good!



Happy Reading!

Movers And Shakers!

I think due to the fact that I have a kitty tent in my sunroom...I am tightening up the rest of my house.
I like to be able to walk into different rooms and read or sit down or think or just listen to music.

I also need all of my rooms to be pretty. Some of my rooms even have names. We call one guest room Paula's room because my sister Paula was the first one to sleep there...another room is the Bear Room. Den used to buy me Steiff Teddy Bears...and now they are all in the Bear Room...obvi! Another room is just my room...my extra room...it's where I go if I can't sleep at night and I don't want to wake up Den...it's my girl cave...white wrought iron bed, yummy TV, comfy chair...book shelves...my girl cave...no boys allowed!








The Bear Room used to be just the Bear Room. Every once in a while we would look in but it was just another guest room. We actually moved a big bed out of there and replaced it with an antique daybed and a rocker. And the bears...they are on every surface. Did you know that if you tip over a Steiff bear it growls?




So...yesterday I moved my artist table to the Bear Room and now it's the Bear/Inspiration Room. It's filled with sketchbooks, watercolors, markers, paint pens, and idea books. Now I am looking for something that will play spa music all day...or water sounds!


The one thing I miss about teaching is writing and drawing on a white board...I would write to my kids everyday...on my whiteboard...and they would write back in their journals. I just asked Den for a whiteboard on the wall! I can't wait!

Love the smell of dry erase markers in the morning! Sorry...I am just so excited when I have brilliant ideas!



The book I am reading on my Kindle right now is awesome...when I am not following Lucy around on her times out of the tent I can not put it down! Roxie follows her, too, but then jumps on her and knocks her down!




Also reading this in real book form...she is the author who wrote Stiltsville which was one of my all time favorite books. I have determined that I can read two books at a time if only one is a real book. It's working for me! So excited!




Off to have lunch...peanut butter and apricot jam on whole grain bread...with just a few chips and some bread and butter pickles! Yum!

Happy Reading!

What I Used To Do...

I was seriously thinking about my life over the weekend...I have time to do this while I "watch" football.

I am nearly positive that I accomplished more when I was teaching.

I used to do all kinds of different things...like this...I always had a project in my hands. I loved making little quilts and hand quilting. I loved making pillows and felted wool quilts. I used to sketch and water color. I used to pay attention to Den.







But now I always have a book, a Kindle, or an iPad in my hands. I hardly even touch my laptop any more.

I think I am out of balance...all I do now is read, walk, cook, read, slightly clean, read,
play with kitties, care for kitties and read. Even when we travel I still read and blog...

I think I need to not touch my iPad for a week and see what happens...hmmm...

This week when Lucy was so ill...I reached out to a huge group of Tonkinese cat owners on FB. They checked in, they emailed, they sent phone numbers, they even sent prayers and Reiki for Lucy. These people know Tonkinese kitties and had advice and tips...it was so helpful.

All of my friends from my blog did that, too, but I truly didn't want to sound as needy and stressed on my blog as I really was. I was trying to realistically assess how to deal with Lucy's illness.

I honestly don't like having a kitty tent in my sunroom...I am kind of a perfectionist...but I get now that you do what you need to do for a beloved pet.

Enough...I don't mean to go on and on...Lucy is fragile now...but stronger. I will care of her for as long as she needs me to.

Books...

Finished and loved this...it was about cooking, marriages gone awry, friends, lovers...it was really a great book!




Reading this...oh my...quite yummy...girls gone bad? I will know more later...I just started it.



Happy Reading!

Football Sunday...Week 6!

I can't believe I even know this plus I just finished a football conversation with Den that didn't involve colors of uniforms or who is the cutest quarterback...

Amazing!


Finished this...I know I am late to the partay with this one...but it was so good! Thanks, Ti and Laurel-Rain for your awesome reviews. I loved this book!




Now reading this and I love it, too...it's the perfect book to read while I am "watching"
football!



Once I finish this one I have 17 days to read my next Vine book before I am overdue. I love this system!

My sunroom is my new kitty rehab room. Lucy is supposed to be confined for about two weeks...she walks like a little elderly lady...poor thing!

Nurse Roxie helps out by jumping on the tent and tapping Lucy on the head...kitty resuscitation?

Who knew? My poor sweet girl...




Little shaved paws where catheters were...sigh!


Nurse Roxie on call! She also helped herself to Lucy's food and litterbox!


Happy Reading!