Snippets!

It is amazing! It's snowing again! I kind of still love it as long as Den is here to help me deal with it...







Nails...love love love my new salon...appropriately called Polished! I opted for pale plus glitter for the next two weeks...then red for Valentine's Day!







Remember my new Uggs? Yesterday Uggs sent me another duplicate pair! By accident...lol! I just called them and they are baffled!





Negotiations this morning...Roxie really wanted Lucy's attention!






Den stepped in as mediator!





Just finished this...I just love Flavia de Luce...this series is exceptional!






Starting this...based on a fairy tale...oooooh!


Dinner...sushi and ice cream! Yum! We are staying in tonight and I love it!

Happy Saturday!

Tidbits!

I am finally shoveled out...and Den is home from his travels! He got home at 2 in the morning and is at work now! Wow! He spent most of yesterday in here! Whatever it is...it's pretty cool...I think it's a library of some kind!




Bought this...could not resist! The description says that this is the book you will want to give to all of your girl friends! Yum!



Want to make these for Super Bowl Day...this recipe is from one of my favorite blogs...iwashyoudry. Little teensie shrimps taco bites! Yum!



Did you know that yesterday was National Pie Day? I want to make this pie...now!
Another fave blog called Cookie Madness has this recipe and nine more! Double yum!
I think this is a lemon pie...my fave!


My new Uggs...love these!



Yummy new books to review...









Reading this...in spite of hating to not read books in a series in the order that they are written...I skipped two and hit this one...it's so good...but you have to love British books and quirky 11 year olds who are poor, live in a crumbling mansion, are motherless, have two weird older sisters and a damaged father. Oh...and a chicken for a pet...yep...a chicken!


Happy Friday!

Brrrrr...Double Brrrrr...

Oh my it is cold...getting the mail has been quite a challenge! Den has been in Minnesota and Iowa all week in -20 degree weather. He has been at the state capitol...in Iowa...doing the things you do at the state capitol...lol...meeting and talking to representatives...and eating steak!



Lol...the girls and I are trying to stay warm. We are eating cereal and toast and soup and apples and a really good hard goat cheese. We are also sipping a yummy minty tea. I say we because Roxie dunked her entire head in my tea cup yesterday...

It's sort of a free for all here when Den is gone...when he is here...the girls sleep all night long in their own cozy heated beds...when Den is gone...they seem to jump on me all night long...probably because I fall asleep with all the lights on and the TV on...it's as though they are trying to wake me up to tell me to go to sleep properly!

This morning I woke up to both of them staring at me...one over my head and one in front of me...Roxie was kissing my face! Doesn't it look like they are in an important discussion here? Roxie is totally trying to make her point very clear! Lucy remains unconvinced!



Finished Ophelia...loved this book...it had no faults! I think it might be a series...it would make the most wonderful movie.



Just starting this...


Den is starting his flight home...Minnesota is one of the most difficult places to get to...when he is there he has hours of driving...flight changes...and exhaustion...but at least there is great steak!

Happy Thursday!

Over My Uggs!

I think it snowed all night long...really truly! It's breathtakingly beautiful outside and utterly freezing cold! When I walked outside yesterday...just to see the snow up close and feel the snow up close...the snow filled my Uggs...not venturing out today at all!

Finishing this...so good...it should be a new children's classic. If I was still teaching I would read it aloud to my class...in stages...they would beg and plead to hear just one more chapter...then I would have sent them to their seats to write their thoughts about Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy...and the Misery Bird and the ghosts and the owl and the wizards and the museum curator and the snow lions and the super glue...lol!




I am totally now in the mood for books with quirky British heroines of a tender age. So...enter Flavia de Luce! I love these books. I have the bottom one to review but I can't read books out of order and I can't remember if I read this one...I don't think I have so it us up next. If you have not read these books...oh my...they are truly wondrous. Flavia is my favorite quirky kind of character...misunderstood...just a bit annoying...precocious to a fault!






Making this today...this is Italian Wedding Soup and this recipe is from The Kitchn...
The meatballs I am making are going to be made from freshly ground turkey and I am adding chicken. I need to smell this chicken soup simmering away today!


Happy Snow Day To Me!

Massive Amounts Of Snow!!!

Oh my...it's really really cold here...tons of snow...I had a small window this morning before the snow started to zip to the grocery store and the pet store...we had nothing...the last can of organic grain free tremendously expensive kitty food did not meet the approval of my girls...what's not to love about Turducken? Turkey, duck, and whatever the en is. I am beginning to think that kitties are like fussy toddlers...every food has to pass their sniff test...Lucy and Roxie hate beef, and anything with fish unless the fish is a sardine...they might love Turducken now and will hate it tomorrow. I feel utterly rejected every time they walk away...literally turn their little Tonk noses up at their dinner. Roxie literally tries to bury any dinner she doesn't like. Sigh!



All I can hear are the snow trucks outside. Schools are closed, businesses are closing early and we are in for a long night.

From our upstairs hallway...this is all you can see...it's just white outside!



This is from an upstairs bedroom window...I can hear geese and birds constantly chatting and repositioning. I just fed everyone outside...suet blocks and seeds and nuts and tons of bread.


My work is done...lol...

Loving every single word of this book...Ophelia is precious...and the Marvelous Boy?
OMG...sweet and brave. He is called the Marvelous Boy because the wizards took away his name when he was chosen to battle the Snow Queen who in turn imprisoned him in the Museum. From what I have read so far he has been imprisoned for tons of years but he doesn't age. His hope right now is Ophelia...he desperately needs her help to save the world. Ophelia is nervous and undecided. It is such a lovely mesmerizing book. It would be a wonderful read aloud...




Ok...all done...I am off to a cup of hot minty tea and to nestle under a furry throw!
Bought lots of yummy hibernation foods...making Wedding Soup tomorrow...having a roasted potato for dinner! Yum!

Happy Reading!

The Book That Got Me Through Play Off Games!!!

Love this book...it has everything I needed to shut out the screaming and shouting and drama that went on yesterday during all the football fuss! And that was just from Den! At one point I was so absorbed in the characters and their issues that I didn't even know the game was over and that the Broncos won! Sorry, Den!

Here is why...

This book has...a mean cheating husband...that would be Brad. This book also has the loveliest sweetest wife ever...that would be Lily. She has always been the "perfect" wife but she has always done things Brad's way. When she discovers that he is cheating, she abruptly leaves and heads to Madrona Island in Washington. Her grandmother died and left her an inn and that is where she goes! There is also a fascinating interesting man on the ferry on the way to Madrona Island...that would be Ian...sigh! Ian...piercing blue eyes, an artist and a sad history...double sigh.

Sometimes I just need a book like this one...it was so lovely and yet there was enough
mean manipulating "Brad" behavior going on to make me silently scream at Lily to get a backbone! Loved all the stuff going on with her.

There are also other lovely island characters...neighbors and old friends of Lily's grandmother to make this island feel so real! Lily's background involves cooking...beautiful, masterful baking and creating...the foods and wines in this book made me crazy! There are even a few recipes at the end of the book. Cookies, frittatas, and more...

Lily shares her life with Jude...an island restaurant owner...and Kyla...a tea shop owner. What's awesome about this is that the author is working on a book for each of them! It seems that lots of people with deep dark secrets find their way to Madrona Island. And...as Lily gains strength and belief in herself...she realizes that becoming close to Ian won't take her new found strength away from her. Hmmm...

One interesting fact I learned while reading this book...there are really Madrona/Madrone trees...and...they always reach their branches to the sun. While doing some of my own personal research I found out that they are messy trees...always dropping pods and things. I was also looking at real vacation rentals. I think that the closest places to Madrona Island might be Vashon Island or Vancouver...but I am still searching.

The trees...












This book won't be for everyone, of course...and it's not perfect...but...I loved the places, the characters, the secrets and this author's writing style. And because of this book...I need to know more about Jude...and Kyla...and Ryan...yep...Ryan!

I think I just may have a giveaway of the real book...I will let you know tomorrow!


Up next for me...a yummy fantasy based on the Snow Queen...just now reading the first few pages...




Happy reading!

Game Day!!! Really Big Game Day!!!

This is how we prep for today's big game...and for this family...it's a big game day whenever the Broncos play! Go Peyton! I actually reread this and it sounds as though I know what I am talking about but I still don't understand how just saying Omaha can mean so many things! Sigh!

So...back to game day prepping...

Napping...






More napping...







Headband trying on...
























Pensive thinking...























Trying on glasses...
























Did I say napping?












Reading this...it's about a broken marriage, an inherited inn and lots of baked goods!
It's an incredibly relaxing book to read today.





Making...homemade baked beans in the slowcooker...this recipe is from Serious Eats but it was taken from a cookbook called Lighten Up, America.
Our house smells so yummy!



Den is very excited about having these with our organic nitrate sulfite free hot dogs but the timing has to fit the Bronco game...sigh! I usually am really gracious about Den's needs and wants when the Broncos play...he will either be deliriously happy or...devastatingly sad...sigh!

Happy Sunday!