Interesting Facts...Sort Of?

This week involved reading sweet books. The Hampton Mystery Books are sweet...well...other than a few off color words and one or two sort of innocent sexy situations but we have to give Antonia a break! Plus she needs a little non sleuthing action in her life. And...she eats way too many cookies and scones. She needs exercise!

 

The Vanderbeekers are sweet...OMG...I am loving this book. The author is Karina Yan Glaser and in addition to being an author she contributes to Book Riot. This book is appealing for so many reasons. There are five Vanderbeeker children...their family is biracial...there are 4 girls...Isa and her twin Jessie, Hyacinth and Laney and Oliver...the only boy. Their landlord...whom they have never seen and who lives on the top floor of their brownhouse...won't renew their lease. So they are trying to come up with a multitude of plans that will change his mind.

There are sketches explaining all kinds of things throughout the book. The Vanderbeeker kids love their house and their block. They bake cookies for the postman to give to the dogs on his route! See what I mean by sweet? Plus they can be crabby and irritating and annoying like every other kid. Not so sweet when they are yelling at each other but very readable...

I love this book!

This book would have been a lovely read aloud in my classroom...just after lunch and recess.

Our area is sort of abuzz this week by an awful crime committed in a lovely area called New Hope. It's a town filled with shops and inns and restaurants. And 4 young men have been missing since last Wednesday. It's even made national news. Den is back volunteering today...the girls and I are going to binge watch more Poirot just because I love seeing his plastic mustache!

So that's it...I made healthy bowls for dinner and a quick blueberry oatmeal bread. We had pasta one night but for me pasta is a healthy bowl.

We had takeaway from a new restaurant and it was delicious...fresh poached tuna salads and gazpacho and sardine toasts...so yummy!

 

That's it!

See you on Monday!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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A Day Trip!

Today I ventured out to get my nails done! But My...my nail tech...makes me feel very safe. I almost went out to lunch with Den, too, but at the last minute I decided not to. I am just not ready...if my hair grew in just a little bit more...I think I would feel more at ease. But right now I just don't! However my nails have been magnetized! There is a swirl across each nail that My put in with a little magnet. Can you see it?

 

I finished my second Hamptons book and even though I tried not to...I could not resist the third one...so that's what I am reading now.

One sweeet little thing that occurs in each of these books when you are almost at the end is this little note...I love it!

So...off to read and relax!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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Rainy, Humid, Muggy!

So...the girls and I are spending most of our day together and alone...Den is volunteering at a golf tournament. Of course the heat as well as the humidity is going to be unbearable. Den hates both. Also...true to what has been happening to us this year...when Den opened the garage door on his side this morning...it fell apart so now we need new garage doors. So...we added them to the list of things we are replacing...refrigerator, microwave, garage doors, house dormers, flooring, our bathroom fan...and who knows what else...sigh!

Books!

I think my temporary reading lull is over. Or else I am at the part of this book where I can't put it down. That happened with the first book in this series, too. It was a leisurely relaxing book...all peach muffins and Linzer cookies until the third murder and then...OMG...I had to get to the end of the book.

So...I am sipping my Starbucks coffee and munching on my Starbucks breakfast sandwich...minus a bite from Roxie...and planning my leisurely relaxed day...thank goodness I am back in Reading Mode! This little kitty has a taste for ham! We are having Starbucks because Den went out early to check the air I his tires and get gas for his drive to B'almore!

Potential "up next" books?

A take on a fairytale? Yum!

Or...

"The Vanderbeekers have always lived in the brownstone on 141st Street. It's practically another member of the family. So when their reclusive, curmudgeonly landlord decides not to renew their lease, the five siblings have eleven days to do whatever it takes to stay in their beloved home and convince the dreaded Beiderman just how wonderful they are. And all is fair in love and war when it comes to keeping their home.

A modern classic in the making reminiscent of the Penderwicks series, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street is about the connections we make and the unexpected turns life can take."

I loved The Penderwicks!

Don't you just love this cover?

I love Middle Grade books, too!

 

Den is bringing home dinner today, too! Our salmon bowl last night was indescribably yummy! But I think tonight we are having Mexican foods.

Hugs...

Patty

 

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Stormy Weather?

I haven't really increased the amount of material that I have been reading over the last few days. I am in the midst of this...and it inspires me to read in a relaxed way which is actually kind of nice. I think. Or maybe I just need a reading break. I like that idea, too.

Plus I am watching Grantchester...

 

And Prime Suspect Tennison...which is a throwback or throw forward to the first one.

And the Bachelorette and Big Brother...I have become a total TV addict this year.

After posting all of those bowls yesterday these are the ones I am making today...Salmon and Pickled Veggies from Epicurious!

 

Off to walk!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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So...Things Are Very Discombobulated!

Finally just the right washer repairman came to our house to tell us how to wash a normal load of clothes without watching the washer bounce its way down the hall. I hope it works.

Den's electric toothbrush just broke so his life is out of sorts until he zips to Costco to get a new one today.

We are also out of paper towels so that's one more teensy stresser.

Plus Den has to stop at Weggieman's for a few supplies. One of those supplies is a sweet little chocolate cake...a sweet gooey fudgy bowl to balance out the healthy grainy bowl!

 

My goal is to make us eat a healthy grainy bowl for dinner every day this week. Here are our choices...I am almost positive the top two are from a site called foodiecrush...it's new to me but I love it. My goal is to have the bowls done and in the refrigerator...oh, and we are still shopping for a new one...by 3:00 because I am still exhausted after that. I want a shower and books and TV and my kitties and special Den made lemonade. Maybe a nap...I can feel myself getting stronger but I still have a really low red...I think...blood count. It's whatever count I had a transfusion for a few months ago. Apparently it takes along time for that to build up to normal...sigh! And it makes you tired and it's why 20 minutes on the treadmill does me in. Apparently there is a shot of something that would help but if doctors wait long enough your count goes up on its own...it just takes a long time for it to happen. I am in the waiting for it to happen category. So I remain tired! But my hair is growing! And the eyelashes on one eye are growing, too. I tried gluing on fake lashes yesterday but I look RIDICULOUS! So my potential look is curly hair...with lashes on one eye. And people ask me why I placed myself in my self imposed exile! Now you really know why!

Grainy beany veggie bowls!

Grainy salmony bowls!

Grainy chickeny bowls!

Books!

I am just going to mention some of my new ones here and share more about them tomorrow or the next day...

Here they are...from NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Amazon Vine.

YA, rivals, hearts of glass and fantasy!

 

"For readers of The Nightingale and Brooklyn, an exquisitely moving novel about friendship, love, and redemption in a circle of immigrants who flee Europe for 1930s-era New York City."

An "atmospheric" mystery about a serial killer...oooh!

 

Missing teacher, suspicious husband, private school...it just sounds so beachworthy...even picnic worthy!

Creepy creepy psychological suspense...think about the kinds of feelings you got if you read Woman In Cabin 10...

"A sharply intelligent novel about friendship, lust, jealousy, and the unexpected complications of adulthood in the 21st century." From Amazon...

 

My reading was not so great this week end...I read but not lots and I didn't really care if I didn't read lots. I am stuck on these Hampton Mysteries because they are just so much fun. Plus the author...sweet Carrie Doyle...reached out to me...I still love when authors take the time to do that.

And other than the wacky murderers her books are filled with sweet characters who mostly love to bake and gossip!

Have I found the perfect books?

I think so!

Hugs,

Patty

 

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