Godzilla Rules!

Oh my! One of the best things about Den's new life...working 50% of the time...is doing fun stuff when everyone else is working! We have seen more movies in a month than we have in the last three years! And we see them during the week at noon when theaters are nearly empty! It's awesome! We saw Godzilla yesterday...and next week XMen and the week after that Maleficent! I am just a tad worried about my love for these kinds of movies...it's all I want to see! Did you know that if you buy a bottle of water at a theatre it costs $4.75?

Godzilla was awesome! That last picture is not Godzilla...it's one of the other monsters in the movie...I loved it! It's predictable but still amazing...Godzilla is definitely the star and the one I cheered for! Such a sweetie!










Today...working around the yard and more clean up...tomorrow...Emmaus Farmer's Market...next week Den works all week so I get my beloved alone time! This schedule is kind of fun and really not even affecting how much I read because when I read I can tune Den...er...whoopsie...I mean things out...lol! Just teasing...

Happy Saturday...I have a date with Roxie and Lucy on the deck!

A Lovely Giveaway!

I read That Night by Chevy Stevens a while ago and loved it. Then last week I was sent another copy from Chatterbox! They kindly said I could give it away and so I am!








All you have to do is leave a comment and Roxie Blue will choose a winner on Monday!



I finished Nantucket Sisters...it might have been a teensy bit predictable...but I didn't even care...I loved it!

Still reading Cutting Teeth...and truly enjoying it...it's about mommies and issues and toddlers and babies...and oodles of dysfunction...a four year old still breast feeding on demand? Oh my!


Started this, too, really good! Wealthy family, summer retreat on an island and lots of dysfunction...absolute bliss!




And...NetGalley published not one but two separate Buzz Books prior to BEA...I love these Buzz Books! I am still toying with the idea of taking the train up for the last day of BEA...Den and I would have dinner at one of out favorite spots and hop back on the train for home...hmmmm.






Happy Friday!

Lunch At The Beach Or Could We Live Here?

Although we don't live far from beaches...we rarely go to beaches near us...the beach to us is Maine or places near where we used to live...Santa Cruz, Monterey, Laguna. We would go to the Outer Banks before we went to beaches barely hours away from us. People here don't even call beaches beaches...they say they are going to the "shore." We hated that...we just didn't get it...so...yesterday we drove to a really sweet beach town...called Lewes. It barely took us an hour and a half to get there but it was mid week, foggy, and there was no traffic. We wanted to look at houses and developments and get a feel for the area...the town was sweet, the area ok...but we did not get that desire to live there year round. But we did get a yearning for a weekend summery getaway there...so...we will see where that takes us...right now it's too complicated...lol...I like a simple uncomplicated life...one house...not two...there would be twice as much to do...wouldn't there? Ick...

But we ate crab dip...








And more crab dip...









And crabby chowders...








And looked at the quaint sweet town...








And went to the candy shop...called Edie Bees...

And bought little bags of sour candy...sour strawberry ribbons and sour chewy lips and lemon drops and sour cinnamon bears and a root beer rock candy lollipop and watermelon slices and cherry bombs...enough to pucker up on the way home and some for when we hopefully go to see Godzilla tomorrow...we are supposed to have floods and scourges and tons of rain! Tomorrow! I hid my candy so I would have it for Godzilla! Rain...do you hear me, Rain? Be gentle! We didn't even look at anything chocolate...we were held captive by the jars of candy...thousands of them! And you can open them and use little silver scoopers and tongs and take as much as you want! Oh my! My little white bag was stuffed with only pink candy! I didn't let my one not pink root beer lollipop touch my pink things...
























I will just say that the sour strawberry ribbons from this shop are soooooo amazing!
The shop is so sweet! Lol!

I have done a bit of research on these strawberry ribbony things...I could possibly be the only person left in the world who has not heard of these. And I am betting that I would never have tried them if I had not seen them in these shiny glass jars in this perfect little store. And now I want more...I only bought three and I ate two on the way home. I either have to talk Den into going back there today or I have to find these somewhere...sigh! I think I found some at Amazon! Yahoo!






Books...


Yesterday was a bust as far as reading...I can usually read in the car but I was looking at scenery and playing Solitaire...so...still reading these...Nantucket Sisters just gets better and better! I love that every single thing that Nancy Thayer talks about is real...The Boarding House Restaurant, the ferry...are all real! Yum!








Happy Thursday!

Just Good Stuff!

Reading this...light hearted...so far...perfection in Nantucket!




And this...edgy...dysfunctional...thought provoking!


My girls...it's almost like having sweet little toddlers...they follow me everywhere...my back bedroom closet is a source of fun for them...as is my shiny stuff!






Off to find flowers on this dreary day!

Happy Wednesday!

Rainy Rainy Rainy Days!

We are supposed to have rain for the next few days...so much rain that the Mulching Men came yesterday...so the mulching is done! They bring a huge truck and spray the mulch in the beds...I think that Den is addicted to mulch...I never see the need but he always does! Yard after yard after yard of it! Whew! We are mulched to the hilt! We are mulched over the top! We are mulch maximized!

New books!

Supposed to be a Steven King like thriller/chiller! Also supposed to appeal to Neil Gaiman fans! Yum!



My kind of Dystopian book!


“A teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood finds herself targeted by the Revealed, a strange, secretive cult known for kidnapping 18-year-olds—none of whom are ever seen again… There’s much to admire in this debut novel.” – Kirkus Reviews...


From NetGalley...this book is about sisterhood and freedom and love in Jazz Age Manhattan!





Quirky YA British mystery? I am all over this one. And this is the second one...hunting for the first right now...



Real historical characters? Yummy!



A girl, a mysterious past...and a book store...yum!



A teen age Dexter? Oh my!

From Amazon...

"A teen girl version of Dexter meets the high stakes danger and mystery of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in this riveting debut."





Description from Amazon...yum...book from Tasha...thank you, Tasha!

"It starts in Washington when a lone gunman enters a busy burger chain and opens fire killing twenty five people. It continues in Paris, London, Sydney and Beijing. Authorities, including FBI agent Jack Rossi find no motive or any connection between the shootings causing fear and panic in the world’s major cities.

As Jack scrambles to get answers, he stumbles upon a secret world of hybrid humans, moles and a threat he never saw coming. One that could lead to the loss of an unprecedented number of lives. Including his own."



My sincerest thank you to NetGalley and publishers and authors...I am always very grateful for books! I will try to read everything! My new plan for summer reading is to get to the newest books first...SLAP to me!

Happy Tuesday!

Mulching, Digging, And Then Flowers!

Roxie and I are on the deck...bird watching. The trees have literally grown leaves overnight and the deck is shaded and private. This sweet little thing loves bird watching...she sits like this and seems totally fascinated with all the birds at the feeder, near the pond and flying overhead! I am taking advantage of these cool mornings...I just finished working out...I am munching on a frittata and I will be reading soon! Den is digging...it's his thing...he digs around the rocks, he digs up weeds and sometimes flowers but he seems very happy out there digging. Mulch is coming tomorrow and he will be even more happy mulching...I don't have to get involved until we plant flowers...later in the week!









Roxie always let's me know when it's time to go inside...she squeaks!






Finishing these...they should have been done yesterday
but I rewatched City Of Bones yesterday...while Den was out digging...I loved it even more the second time...sigh!



I think I love this book and these characters but I wish I would have read the first one.



I love having my ipad attached to my treadmill...I can walk/run/jog longer than I ever did before! It's amazing what I can do with my head in a book!

Happy Monday!

Buttered Noodles!

The town I grew up in...a small town in Ohio...was almost idyllic...we walked to school and the pool and the park and had parades and festivals for everything. It was and still is the kind of place where you can get on your bike and ride around all morning...come home for lunch...one that my mom had ready...and hop back on your bike to ride around some more.
My sister always lived a block or two from my mom...my mom was ever ready for babysitting and since my mom's house was closer to the schools...she often had my sister's kids there for lunch...typically my mom would make their favorites...including buttered noodles...and my dad would always have their favorite snacks...that's just how my parents were.

Now...my sister's daughter lives a few blocks away from my sister...and my sister does for her what my mom did for my sister. My niece just had her 4th baby...and her kids are as easily at home in my sister's house as they are in their own...my sister's cupboards are filled with their favorite snacks...toy baskets are everywhere...and some toys don't even make it back to their house but stay forever at my sister's. Eventually my niece is going to buy her mom's house and my sister is going to build a smaller house next door...not too far away...lol...right now my sister's house is the go to place for all of her grandchildren's parties.

This is my sister Paula and her daughter Emily...this is probably when Em graduated from Ohio State...before Lily, Joey, Owen and Henry!


So...that brings me to my mom's buttered noodles...

That was the lunch that every one of us begged my mom to make...it's our family's comfort food...and although every one of us can remember the taste and the kind of noodles she used...none of us can manage to make them the way my mom did...I am not even sure she used butter...I remember tubs of yellow stuff. I make buttered noodles for Den, my sister makes them, my nieces makes them, we talk about them when we are together...but when we make them...there is always something missing...




Have a wonderful day!