My Favorite Books.... A List

I'm a crazy reader.  I will read almost anything.  This is a list of books I adore (not a complete list, will add as I think of them) and why I love them.  These are not in any particular order.

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  This book warms my heart, although the subject matter is hard.  I found it super comforting that after people die, they might go to their own ideal heaven and keep an eye on us.
2. Lucky by Alice Sebold.  This is Alice's true life story about a horrible thing that happened to her when she was in college and how she's come through it, good and bad.
3. The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer.  Okay, I admit it, I'm a nerd.  I'm being brutally honest.  The books are so much better than the movies.  
4. Frugal Luxuries by Tracey McBride.  This might be out of print, but it's a great book about simple living.  
5. The Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  Maybe my all-time favorite book.  Just a great story, with everything you want in a book.  
6. The Quarter Acre Farm by Spring Warren.  A woman decides feed herself and her family from her yard.  And her chickens.  Her goal was to provide 80% of their food by weight.  What's not to love about that?
7. Little House in the Suburbs by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskin.  This is a book about backyard farming and home skills for self-sufficient living.  Love this book.
8. The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather.  A woman loses her job and her marriage within two weeks and moves to a rural cabin.  She decides to eat locally and writes about her year.
9. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.  Another one of my very faves.  It's exactly what it says it is.  Very believable, it's almost difficult to think a man wrote this--is that sexist?
10. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.  Great book.
11. Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  What's not to love about flying monkeys and defying gravity?
12. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.  Great book about how we are all connected.  The funny thing is that I didn't think I liked it very much as I was reading it, but it comes to my mind all the time since then (maybe ten years ago).
13. It by Stephen King.  Pennywise the clown.  Need I say more?  Stupid movie, but the book is scary as crap.  I used to read this now and then when my ex-husband was in the field or deployed, and I'd have to stash it in the freezer so I could sleep.
14. The Kite Runner  by Khaled Hosseini.  Awesome book.
15. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.  It's just a great book.
16. Mind in the Making by Ellen Gallinsky.  This explains the seven life skills that children need to learn, but it's pertinent to adults as well.  VERY interesting.
17. The Help by Katheryn Stockett.  If you've seen the movie I don't need to explain.  
18. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  This author took a year to explore various myths and ideas about what makes people happy and kept stringent records (which is fascinating in itself, worth reading the book to figure out how she did this) about what worked and what didn't.  For example, does money make people happy?  She concentrated on one thing at a time and has some interesting things to say on the subject.

Simple Sunday...

Simple Sunday is something I made up a while ago to make sure I get a day of peace (or at the very least, a day to stay home) during my busy and stressful week.  I don't always stick to it, but when I need to, I do.

Plan for this week's Simple Sunday...

• Coffee with my sister this morning.  We don't do this enough, and we've both been so busy that we see very little of each other these days.  Sad.
• Plant cucumber seeds in newspaper seed pots that I made myself.  The fall garden is really coming along.
• Read.  I'm now reading three books at one time, which is very unlike me, but they are very different and sometimes I'm not in the mood to read where my food comes from.  It can be upsetting.  So I choose which book I want to read by the mood I'm in.  The books:
• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.  I like this author, but this book is very eye-opening about where food comes from.  Hard to read at times.
• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel.  One of my all-time favorites, and I reread it now and then.  
• The Complete Compost Gardening Guide by Barbara Pleasant and Deborah Martin.  This one is like a textbook about compost.  I don't think it's a secret that I have a strange obsession with compost at this point.  But it's not really reading for pleasure.  
• Laundry--I don't mind doing laundry because I can do other things while the laundry is working.  And I love clean-smelling clothes.
• I'd like to do some sewing, but I don't have a project going right now, so that might not happen--I should at least think about a project I want to start.  
• Puttering around my house--one of my very favorite things to do.  Water plants, move this and that, sit in my rocking chair, whatever.  

Bring on the Preschoolers...

So...school starts on Monday (it's Saturday now).  We have had a frantic two weeks getting the classrooms ready--open house was Friday.  It was so much fun, so very PLEASANT.  Everyone has really been making their classrooms theirs--and this is really the first time I have felt like my classroom was MINE.  I did some painting and moving around, and I finally decided to gut the office and organize it the way it needs to be.  Over time, we added a lot of materials and without any organized way to store them, we could never find anything, so this was important.  Now there are specific shelves for literacy activities, math, science, motor skills, outdoor, art, play dough, and light table.  

I am most proud of the Quiet Center--with my pillows that I made.  And the sparkly lights in the lace curtain over the entrance.  That's our "SHOWSTOPPER", as Mrs. Jones says.  

Today all my coworkers met at Kim's house in Christmas--how much do I love that place?  Five acres, gardens, a pool, trees, a barn, etc.  Fabulous!  She has a whole fence full of passion flowers--gorgeous.

 Look at this banana spider!  It was as big as my hand!  Amazing.  

We all had a really nice time, in spite of the heat.  

It was very pleasant to spend fun time with everyone, just laughing and having fun.  I will have to remember to thank Kim for that.  It's all because of her.

I meant to come home and mow the grass, but it was raining when I got home so I took a nap instead.  I think it was the right thing to do.  I guess that's what I'll be doing tomorrow afternoon though.  Or my neighbors will revolt.  

I've been reading a really interesting book called "Sleeping Naked is Green" by a Canadian girl named Vanessa Farquharson.  She made one green change every day for a year and blogged about it--whether it worked or not, and if she was going to stick with it or not.  Some were kind of weird, like using vegan toothpaste, but she also sold her car and got rid of her refrigerator.  

I also just finished "Hit By a Farm" by Catherine Friend--who moved to a sheep farm with her long-term girlfriend (why the hell can't I just say her wife?) without any experience or anything, and what happened.  Loved it, as anyone could probably guess.  

I have seriously read 10 books in the last few weeks (maybe 3).  I'm a little obsessed.  Maybe.  

A Lovely Evening. . .

I just spent a lovely hour out in the garden, watering, weeding, moving stuff around (my favorite thing to do), and when I was finished, I did a little reading out there while the tomatoes got watered.  My lemon tree is looking pretty awful--I think something is eating it.  I had to prune back a couple of branches that have all the leaves eaten off, and they looked kind of puny.  Maybe I need to plant it in the ground.  And get a few more.  I love that tree beyond reason.  My hands are dirty and smell like green tomatoes and basil.  Is there a lovelier smell than that?  I think I'm going to get a really good sprayer, the sprinkler I'm using is inefficient--the water goes everywhere, and I don't really mind standing out there and spraying.  

I knew this before (that's why I always talk about DIRT THERAPY) but I read an actual study that said that there are microorganisms in dirt that absorb into skin and affect melatonin (sp?) levels in the brain.  Pretty awesome.

Kaleigh is having some problems with depression, and this is when Hillarie's issues started, when she was 18.  We're trying some things which will help eventually, but it's a process.  I don't really want to throw her business out there without her say-so, so that's all I'm going to say about that.  The reason I even brought it up is that I've been thinking about changes I can make to help her.  I did change the house around and it looks more cottage-y, which I love.  It's also a lot easier to keep picked up for some reason.  I'm making more of an effort to stay up later instead of going to bed early all the time.  I don't think it does K. a lot of good to spend a lot of time alone.  Thank God for Tara--she and K. have bonded and I love that.  I trust Tara completely, so I get a little break and she gets someone to hang out with.  They have a lot in common.  I've been making a point to make time to putter around the house a little every day.  I love to do that, and I've gotten away from it lately for some reason.  Too tired, I guess.  But I feel very "homey" when I do it, so I'm making a real effort.  Kaleigh and I have been thinking about a couple of projects to work on together also, which I think is a wonderful idea.  She got a new sketch pad and I suggested that we decorate the cover together.  I was super surprised when she said yes, actually.  Then she asked me about sewing a 50's style pinup dress.  I found a vintage sheet with big blue 50's flowers on it, and suggested that maybe we could make it from that.  She's all about it now.  

On another positive note, work is going much better these days.  The thorn in my side is gone.  I feel so relaxed and free and able to get things done.  Isn't that sad?  Happy now, but sad that this has gone on for so long.  

I got some sun this weekend while mowing the grass and also I met my sister and her kids at the pool, which was nice.  I shopped for work shoes also, which makes me very happy.  

Well, I have a lot to do tonight--lesson planning for next week, and I'm reading a very compelling book.  It's called Lasher by Anne Rice.  It's a sequel to her book The Witching Hour, which I just finished.  Very compelling.  Over 1000 pages--I haven't read such a long book in awhile, but I surely enjoyed it.  

Everything Rots Eventually, and other life lessons.

So much to say, so little time. . . . 

My plants are looking so happy out in the garden, the beans have reached the fence and are starting to grow UP it now.  The lettuce looks cute, and the tomatoes are okay, I guess.  There are a bunch of baby tomatoes on there, I guess I can't really expect them to perform like summer tomatoes. 

Last night I was reading a homesteading blog, and I decided to take another go at sourdough starter.  Kaleigh and I are making bread pretty regularly now, so I want to give it another try.  After reading this particular book and recipe, I realized I was trying to do too complicated a process.  It's kind of like compost.  Once I got over the idea that it had to be complicated, I had a revelation--EVERYTHING ROTS EVENTUALLY.  Without my help.  This is a fundamental truth of the universe.  So pile crap up in a corner of the yard and it will happen.  And guess what?  It happened.  Without my help.  Never underestimate a human's capacity for making something natural complicated.  But I digress.  My point is, all I REALLY have to do is mix flour and warm water and feed it every day, and wait.  It will happen.  Without my help. 

Last night our cable went out for what I assume was most of the evening, and I had to resort to figuring something else out to do.  I think it was the last straw in the cable's back, so to speak.  I had such a pleasant evening after I figured out what to do.  AND I GOT A LOT DONE.  Figures.  I think the time has come for me to part ways with cable.  I will miss Sons of Anarchy, though.  I ended up taking out the remainder of the English paper piecing hexagons out of the back of my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.  It's ready to hand quilt.  I think I will machine baste it this weekend, and start hand quilting it.  It will definitely be gorgeous when it's finished.  Picture below. 

No comments about my name over my bed, please.  Unless you absolutely have to tell me how much you love it.  My bedroom is very self-centric these days.  I spent a lot of years with a bedroom that I hated in muted non-gender-specific colors, so I like a little me in there now.  Sue me.  I'm embracing the Amie. 

I also spent a lot of time reading last night, which I enjoyed so much that I am going to do it again tonight.  I got a new book called "A Homemade Life", which is a woman's story about how food and her life are intertwined and everything good in her life happens with food around.  Her life story with food.  And it has recipes.  Looking forward to it. 



The stupid dog threw herself through a window on Monday, which really pisses me off since she doesn't have a checkbook to reimburse me for the $130.00 I'm out now to fix it.  Bitch.  i also had to take Tuesday off since nobody could come fix it until then, so I decided I could spend the day crying--again--or I could do something productive.  So I opened up my etsy shop.  Nothing has come of it yet, but somebody marked me as their favorite.  That's awesome.  Considering that I kind of feel worthwhile when people re-pin my pins on Pinterest, this is like the holy grail.  (Geek Reference).

Business and Dropping My Basket. . .

Kaleigh and I have been tossing around an idea to re-start my quilting business.  She could be a big help for me and we could do well, I think.  I'm not sure that she fully understands how much work it will be, but I'm embracing the idea.  We need to think about changing our sewing room arrangement to make things a little easier. 

Today I spent a lovely (no sarcasm) three hours at the bookstore while Kaleigh and her friend Cari went to the mall and shopped.  I thought three hours was going to be a VERY long time, but I was actually a few minutes late in picking them up.  I walked around the bookstore and found a bunch of books about omesteadng and sustainability, and several quilting magazines, went into the cafe and bought myself a $1.50 cup of coffee and sat and read for 2 1/2 hours.  It was lovely.  I took notes whenever I thought of something i wanted to blog about, or do in my classroom, or quilt, or anything I thought of to tell K about for the business.  Apparently I needed that.

I've been in a weird state of anxiety for the last few days.  Financially, I am having a rough time, and I've been trying to make a plan to resolve the issue, so I made some phone calls yesterday, and things are looking better.  I always love a plan of action.  I kind of call this anxiety "dropping my basket".  Where I'm not nutty enough to need mental help, but just enough to make me a little uncomfortable.  Anyway, I'm glad it's over, now I'm having another idea spurt. 

I've been working like crazy on my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, and the top is almost done.  I only have to add a blue row to the bottom, then the borders, then I'm ready to start the hand quilting.  REALLY looking forward to that!  I have missed hand quilting.  It used to be my best friend.  Hand piecing the top has provided me wonderful side effect that I will ned for the hand quilting.  A quilter's callous.  Now I don't have to do dishes anymore because I need that callous to hand quilt.  It's ugly, but there's nothing more fabulous to a quilter. 

I have plans to make another raised bed for herbs.  I have them in pots right now, but I want to let them get bigger, so I want to move them into a bed.  I also want to plant some more cherry tomatoes and maybe even some plum tomatoes.  We had some nachos last night--made by Kaleigh--with some of our heirloom Mr. Stripey tomatoes.  They were so good!  They are green and orange, with red stripes through the inside.  Yummy!  Can't wait to get more.

Musings on Friday. . . and Books

I know, I know.  Weird for me to blog on Friday, but I'm feeling it, and I'm not one to go against my feelings.  It's rest time in my classroom, and the Winnie the Pooh theme is playing in the background (one of my all-time favorites), and I'm just inspired. 

I've finished a couple of books over the last few weeks and I want to talk about them.  the first is called The Dirty Life, by Kristin Kimball, about a big city writer who was writing an article (and thinking about a book) about sustainable living, and she goes to meet an organic farmer, falls in love with him, and moves to the country to help him run his organic, whole food farming co-op.  VERY interesting.  I highly recommend it--it's very entertaining, and real.  A true story. 

I'm now reading the new Sookie Stackhouse book, which is not very good.  I keep forgetting who the characters are, and it seems like a lot of nothing going on.  Not a true story.

I'm also reading a new sustainability book called Little House in the Suburbs by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskins.  I AM LOVING THIS BOOK!  Just what I want to read.  They are living a sustainable (within reason) life in the suburbs, and are full of practical advice on how to do it.  If you have any interest in this subject, I think this is a super-worthwhile book.  I am just never going to go "off the grid" and live without electricity or have a huge farm or anything like that, so this is exactly what I want to know.  A true story.

This weekend I'm going to relax.  Maybe clean my closet out.  Who knows.

My assistant, Mrs. Jones was out for a week, and I don't think I was EVER so glad to see anybody in my whole life.  My class was out of sorts the whole week.  We are back to our regular routine. 

Working diligently on my quilt.  I think I have about seven blocks completed, and several started--it looks AWESOME!! 

I took the posterboard "bodies" down from the wall in my classroom this week, always a sad day for me.  My classroom looks naked now.  Will work on ideas to fill up my big board this weekend. 

Books, etc.

It's Sunday, which has become my unofficial blogging day, I guess.  This weekend has been absolutely nuts, so tonight I am going to take it easy, make a nice dinner for my daughter, niece, and nephew, maybe read a little bit, and just relax.  Dinner is actually already made (lasagne, salad from our garden, homemade salad dressing, garlic bread), and ready to throw in the oven, so no work there.  Lesson plans done for this week, laundry done and outfits laid out ready to go for the week. 

I am working on an article for an early childhood magazine about the importance of outdoor play, connecting curriculum with outdoor play, and how our school does this now.  I'm not usually a procrastinator, but I do need to stew about stuff for awhile before it gels in my head, so I've been thinking for awhile about it.  Wrote a kick-ass outline today at lunch.  Inspiration struck over tableside guac at Amigos--what can I say?

This week is the Week of the Young Child, so we have a lot of special activities going on at school.  We also had our Spring Carnival on Friday, and I won two prizes--admission for four to Congo River Mini-Golf, and a $25 gift certificate for Outback Steakhouse.  Yea Me!  I haven't won ANYTHING in 8 years, so I was due.  And as we all know, I am cursed with a competitiveness that defies reason, so I always feel a need to win.  Something. 

I bought two books today at the bookstore--A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball.  I think I will love them both.  Book reviews to come. 

I read a book a while back that was really interesting to me, and I keep meaning to share it, but it hasn't seemed like the right time, but since we are discussing books, here you go.  The book is  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  For a year, she did all the things that are rumored to make you happy, i.e. make more money, take time to smell the roses, and anything else she heard about.  She then analyzed if these things actually do make a person happier.  Interesting concept.  The book itself is very interesting, and the methods she used to keep track of what she was doing and how it made her feel are fascinating. 

Simple Sunday...actually, it's Monday.

I have renamed Sunday to be Simple Sunday.  I forgot that this was a long weekend, so it's actually Monday, but I did have a simple Sunday yesterday.  I plan on having a simple Monday too.  Then it's back to work. . . and kids . . . and worms. 

I got up early today so I thought I would write a little before the day really begins.  Today is my baby girl's birthday.  I can't believe that she's been in the world for seventeen years.  That seems just crazy.  So seventeen years ago, I was in the military hospital that she was born in, and a midwife had delivered my 10 1/2 pound baby girl.  I highly recommend a midwife, by the way.  She's been high maintenance ever since, but I love the heck out of her.  Today she has an appointment, then we are going to Lake Eola and walk around the lake.  The replica of the Vietnam Memorial is going to be there, which is not birthday celebration material, but we've never seen it and want to.  We already had her celebration anyway, over the weekend.  She's pretty easy to please.

I've been doing a lot of reading--as per my New Year's Wish List (not sure if I put that on the list I posted here, but it's on the list in my journal).  I'm on my fourth book of the year, and it's only January 16.  Pretty pleased about that.  The book I'm reading now is basically a list of projects to do around the house.  Pretty interesting.  Everything from making homemade mead (fermented alcoholic honey), to canning, to gardening, and anything else you can think of.  Even how to make your own composting toilet, which I will never do, but I know how in case anyone else needs one now.  Not sure why I find this stuff so interesting, but I sure am enjoying this book.  It's called "Making It--Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World" by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen.  They are homesteaders in Los Angeles.  I find that an interesting concept.

Yesterday I worked on organizing my sewing area a little bit.  I think I have a LOT of extraneous stuff that could go live somewhere else, so I'm sorting and trying to edit.  NOT easy.  But I know that if I want to spend time sewing, I need to have a pleasant place to go to do it.  And my sewing area is not very pleasant right now.  It's too crowded.  So I will continue working on that this afternoon when we get home. 

The house is cleaned up, and I think I'm going to go make myself a cup of coffee.  I hope my "fans" (all two of you) have a great day. 

My daughter and I have had a really wonderful weekend.  My weekends aren't usually relaxing at all, I spend them shopping, running errands, doing laundry, cleaning, and lesson planning.  In other words----NOT SIMPLE.   To be honest, I am usually glad to get back to my regular routine on Mondays, which is sad, isn't it?

So this weekend, I made it a point not to make any plans.  I got home on Friday, and did some laundry, but since my no-dryer edict, I wash it, hang it up in the spare bedroom on the wooden rack, and I'm kind of finished until the next day.  So I just puttered around, read a little, and went to bed early.  We went to the bookstore on Saturday and had lunch at Panera, which we love.  After we got home, my daughter's boyfriend came over and we had dinner together, and then they worked on a jigsaw puzzle for the rest of the evening, while I watched a terrible movie (Blue Valentine--yuck!). 

Today when I got up, I went and did my usual Sunday thing, which is go to 7-11 for blueberry cream coffee and a newspaper or two, depending on the coupons.  When I get home, I look through the ads to see if there's anything I need on sale anywhere, and match any coupons to sales in the grocery stores.  I love free (and nearly free) stuff.  I made my list, and went out to get a few things that we needed, and then I took my daughter to her volunteer job working with a pet adoption group.  While she did that, I went to the bookstore and did some reading and generally thinking my thoughts. 

Right now I am reading a book called Cabin, written by a man who built his own cabin in Maine, along with his brother and a few friends, during a time of upheaval in his life.  I am really absorbed into this book, it has always appealed to me to make things, build things, etc.  I've always been crazy about the idea of a cabin or a getaway of some kind--ANY kind.   My dream is to someday buy an Airstream trailer and travel around camping and visiting my grandkids.  Maybe not all the time, but at least on vacations.  For the record, I do not enjoy camping and sleeping on the ground, but in a camper or hotel room, I'm fine. 

Tonight, Kaleigh and I played a little Cribbage--she's just learning, so we only played one game, and then we decided to have a reading night.  I really feel like this weekend I actually had time off and wasn't rushing to get things done the whole time.  It's nice.  I need to make this happen more often.

Happy New Year!

I stopped at the little vegetable store this morning, and tomatoes were cheap so I bought a LOT and I am now making tomato sauce in my crock pot, as per my new favorite book, The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather.  It's a year long biography with musings (and recipes) during a time of huge change for her.  It's a great book and I highly recommend it.   Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about tomatoes (they are probably the love of my life), so I am in heaven. 

This being New Year's Day and all, I can't help but think about what I want for the next year, as I've mentioned--peace and calm in my life.  Along those lines I am choosing not to react to my ex-husband's wife who took my daughter to get her nose pierced while she was there on vacation.   I have nothing against nose-piercing, and I would have said yes if she had asked me, but the fact is, she didn't.  I personally think step-mom overstepped in a huge way, and this is not the first time.  However, if I react, it always ends up to be a ridiculous scene, which is not productive, and she's never going to change.  I suspect she does these things to get a reaction from me.  So I'm not playing.  This is an ongoing struggle for me, because I feel like being true to myself would be standing up for what I believe, especially as it pertains to my own children, but at the same time. . . is it worth it when I would have said yes anyway? 

I'm feeling very self-righteous about my laundry today.  I washed a quilt that I made for my daughter a long time ago (yes, it's pink and white), and some towels and they are hanging on my drying racks on my little back porch.  I can't wait to wash my sheets and hang them out there--THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THE SMELL OF SHEETS DRIED OUTSIDE.  I cannot stress that enough.  Besides tomatoes, one of the other great loves of my life is my bed.  I love soft sheets, the perfect quilt that snuggles you but isn't too heavy, the right fluffy pillows, the perfect lamp next to the bed, a lovely pile of books on the nightstand, a clean fresh nightgown, and I'm a happy girl.  I got my love of my bed from my mom, who is the same way.  The rule at my house (and my mom's) is that you cannot even sit on my bed without an invitation, except for grandchildren.  They are always allowed, until they turn 16.  Are there any other boudoir-philes out there or are we crazy?   

I worked really hard to add the word "boudoir-phile"!