Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Honk and Holler Opening Soon

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts is mostly another quick, easy read - one that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy in the end.
Where a group of people are brought together, all with thier own issues, and then together work on those problems together. Although this book wasn't as light as others and did have some parts that didn't fit into that happily-ever-after-ending, you still felt that everything would be okay if you met up with the characters in a few years from the end.
This is the second book I have read by Letts .. I read Where the Heart Is several years ago and this book was along the same lines as that one and I remember that one kind of leaving me with warm fuzzies at the end.
I like books like this because they are quick and easy to read, make me think a teeny bit, but not too much, and sometimes in life, that is the kind of book I just need. I have a feeling I will be sticking to these light books for the next couple of readings.
I have started 3 heavier, deeper books over the last few weeks and I just can't devote the time and attention to them that I would like and so have set them down for the moment.
Anyway, I do have to say thanks to my friend Tracy who recommended it to me ages ago. I finally got around to picking it up and she was right, Honk and Hollering is a great book!

A Good Yarn ...

Remember way back when I was knitting and reading?
Well I finally finished the mystery book last week! However, I am still plugging along on that sweater and baby's first birthday is coming soon! The book was A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber.
A good light read. One of those pretty predictable books IMO, but I still enjoyed it. It was just what I needed when I was taking breaks from unpacking, organizing, cleaning, schooling, etc, etc. I didn't realize there is a book by Macomber that come before it so I will have to go and read The Shop On Blossom Street soon I think!
I did really enjoy all the characters though - kind of like in the quilting series I read - you fall in love with the characters, want the best for them, and still want to see how their lives continued on after the book is over. And it also makes me want to visit that yarn shop, knit with these woman and share my life with them - a book that leaves you with a good feeling when you are done for sure!
Now I need to finish that baby sweater LOL!

Chugging along ...

I'm over here, just chugging along on things.
I have managed to make a pretty good dent in the unpacking department. I think we are about 85% of the way done now, which is a very good thing!
I have even managed to do a bit of knitting, finish two books, and organize my craft room a bit.
But I am here, even though I'm not posting much these days.
Now I just need to get a library card for around here (although I did manage to drive around and find the library yeah!) and find the nearest fabric/yarn stores. Although now that I have gathered all my crafting items in one location and can see all that I have, I probably don't need to buy anymore craft supplies, for oh, I don't know, 5 years or so? Which is all fine and dandy as for about the next year all of our extra money will go towards furniture, replacing appliances, and other fix-up-the-home kind of purchases!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Looks who's coming ...

to a Borders near me on April 3rd?
Click here

I think this is an event I must attend. I really do!
Any other fellow knitters going to be going and seeing her?

Monday, February 19, 2007

Still here ...

I'm still around here!
We spent most of the weekend moving into our new house. We are now living in our very own home.
I have spent some time working on my craft room. I keep thinking I'm close to having it set up when I find a few more boxes that need to fit in there. I have decided, it will not all fit in there. No matter how hard I try.
But it's getting there ... I might even take pictures of it tomorrow - the mess and all and show you ... or maybe I'll wait to take pictures until it looks much more organized! =)

But I'm here .... not much time to do any crafting. I'm hoping by this weekend to have most things put away that I can so we can get back to trying to live a semi-normal life!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Cross-Stitch



Cross stitch project I unpacked! I remembered working on it early in my second pregnancy. My child is now 4 and half years old! But I am working on it.

I can't remember when I last cross-stitched, I do believe it was slightly over 2 years ago!

It's kind of nice working on it again =)

13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes was a cute, very quick read!
As of this morning, I was on about page 50. I had a few hours to kill while my oldest took some co-op classes and the other two children and I sat in a church nursery.
Thankfully the kids played beautifully with the toys and I was able to finish the rest of the book in about 2 hours. Of course, I was highly motivated, as the book wsa due at the library Saturday and I was passing the library on my way home today - it would be returned finished or not. And so it was returned finished.
Anyway, like I said, a cute read. Very easy, very quick. Not a lot of thinking involved (which is a good type of book to read with the children under foot). It was interesting to travel around Europe with the main character - mostly because I've never done it, dream about doing it, but am far too chicken to ever really do it!

A great read and in the end worth the 40 cent fine I will recieve (however, it probably wouldn't have been worth, say a 2.00 fine LOL!)

Devil in the White City

A very interesting, but gruesome, book.
I was fascinated with a lot of the history in the story - the world's fair, the city of Chicago, the labor movement, things happening at the time. Since I now live near Chicago, I was fascinated with the story from that standpoint. Many things in the book, I didn't know before - and really, some even very small facts caught my eye - i.e. Shredded Wheat was introduced at the fair and most people didn't think anyone would like it and yet, we still eat it today!
I can also say I have never heard of Dr. H. H. Holmes prior to reading this story - such a criminal back them, creating all kinds of buzz among people, shocking them to the core with the crimes he committed, and cow, well, worse criminals or perhaps more recent criminals have upstaged his fame and caused people like me to not even have heard of him!
So much information in the book that was interesting - but because of all the information, I had to read it at a slower pace than many of my fiction books, and so I read several fiction books while reading this book. That, however, is not an indication to say I didn't like the book, just to say I needed breaks from it, time to absorb what I was reading and take a break from all the stuff and read a bit of fluff truth be told!

24 Hours

What a great book! I was hooked from the beginning, although some parts were not easy for me to read.
The premise of the book is very sad and tragic IMO, but I sort of assumed from the beginning, it would turn out okay in the end .... I'll leave you to read it to so you can see if I was right or very sad at the end.
This is the second book I've read by Greg Iles and he did not disappoint (although admittedly, I liked the first book I read by him better, but I think the plot line is a big cause of this).
I think I will pick up more books by him in the future.
The thing that makes me laugh the most is I originally downloaded this book to listen to while unpacking at the new house and of course became hooked on the story and listened to it very quickly and not only while unpacking!
I will admit some parts did seem to drag a bit and in some places time seemed to go soooo slow, but I would imagine for some of the victims, time did feel slow, so I'm still wondering if that was intentional on the author's part or not.
But that aside, I enjoyed the book greatly.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Valentine's



Tongith we made some Valentine's for the girls. They need them tomorrow (of course, do you expect me to be more on top of things than to do them the night before?!)
A sample of A's valentine's



And a sample of M's Valentine's. Keep in mind she is 4 years old, but I cut out the shape of the paper, folded and punched and they both decorated them by themselves with stickers and stamps. I think even M's look cute. So I think this is a good project for those of all ages!




Now really, aren't they just cute? I found them at Old School Acres. Now mine do look a tab different. Not on purpose, but because I looked at the her web page earlier and apparently my brain changed a few details from this morning to this evening! But I do like how ours turned out!

Knitting and reading



Finished the back of the baby sweater and started one front piece while reading Crewel World the other day.
My next "read while knitting" book is hiding ... know what it is? ;-)


As far as Crewel World, it was an interesting book and a very quick read. My first thoughts were of the title Crewel World and wondered if it would transpose into Cruel World in the novel. I will say, I think for the main character, she went from a sort of cruel world (but not really) into a very good place.
The ending was a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed it mostly because I was knitting as I read it (which I thought was a very appropriate thing to do!)
I would read a novel by Monica Ferris again if I needed some light, easy reading!

Monday, February 05, 2007

A Room with a View

Another finish, and actually it's my last book for the Winter Classics Challenge!

It was a cute book. I did enjoy it, but it won't rank up there on my list of favorites. The storyline was cute, although, it is a book to show how times have changed. I mean, I can't imagine worrying about if my fiance knew another man kissed me! I suppose, because a few (although not a lot) of boys had kissed me before I met my fiance. What a different set of acceptable and unacceptable behavior if you compare the novel to today.
Depsite the differences in culture and what is appropriate or not, it was an interesting read and an interesting love story to say the least.

And with that, I am done with the Winter Classics Challenge. It was fun while it lasted for sure! I enjoyed being a part of it, and I'm thrilled I actually finished! Of course a big thank you to Booklogged for sponsoring this challenge!

Later this year there is a Non-Fiction Five challenge I think I will participate in. We'll have to see how life is going then ...

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Some orange and blue



combined with an embroidery machine and a sewing maching, become a banner that I was proud to hang up in my house today ... reading "GO BEARS #1". Apparently though, it wasn't big enough to make them win and should instead read "GO BEARS #2". :::sigh:::



In some more blue and orange projects, a bib I made babyboy for the game ... it says "I may be little, but I'm a BIG fan." It really did look adorable on him I have to say that. And it is officially the first bib I have ever made. It was actually quite simple if I do say so myself. I think I may have to make him some more cute bibs like that!

UFO Challenge: February



Blanket for the UFO challenge. Not only did I pull it out and begin to work on it today, I finished it! YEAH! Well, really I just had to weave in the yarn. DH will be mailing it out tomorrow as we realized a friend had a babygirl and we never sent a gift. So wa-la! Fabulousness! And it will now be one less thing to move to the new house, and my first completed projected curtesy of the UFO Challenge! =)

Saturday, February 03, 2007

A little sampling ...




Here is a little something for you to look at ... a bit of blue fabric in the embroidery machine ....




and let's not forget the orange fabric I used .... a project made and finished Thursday night through early Friday morning. Yes, I stayed up way to late to make it ... but trust me, it looks very nice. You'll see ... tomorrow if you're lucky!