Saturday Stuff...

Today one third of our little family is stressing...

Rain has put our Amish roofer...Sam...blonde Sam...who looks like the guy from The Mentalist...behind schedule...imagine him on your roof all day...in an Amish hat...I know...sounds bizarre and if he ever sees this I will be totally embarrassed...my plan to bring him lemonade every hour has been put on hold.

Sigh...



Anyway...stress over the roof, the painters who are painting the dormers using Sam's scaffolding, the fact that we have not mulched yet and weeds are out of control, the garden that isn't planted and the lone ant we found in the bathroom...causing one third of us to wonder if there is a massive ant nest somewhere in our house, the fact that we can't fry an egg or boil water until the parts for the cook top are in, and when are we going to finally decide on granite...we have changed our minds at least fifty times and have no clue where our new island is...we think it's in Mike the Contractor's garage!

Whew!

So let's just say that two thirds of us sort of deal with things as they happen and one third of us...Den...stress and pace and wake up in the middle of the night with a flashlight looking for the ant's family!




Happy Saturday!

Reading this...finally getting why lots of people are...it's fun!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Friday And Another Giveaway!!!

I have been reading this book on and off for a few days now and lately it's more on than off. It is not the kind of book that I would normally read but again it continues to draw me in. It's sort of old fashioned and sweet. I find myself laughing at the two boys and loving the descriptions of an earlier time as well as learning more about what it was like at that time in our country's history.

Here is a synopsis...from JKSCommunications...and thanks to them and the author I have a lovely copy to give away!

Cottonwood Summer '45, the latest novel in the Cottonwood series, continues the tradition of delivering an entertaining, richly-detailed reminiscence of home front America during the summer of 1945, as well as details of the closing events of World War II. The last days of the war have a profound effect on America, as witnessed by the citizens of Riverton, Michigan, and Nashville, Tennessee, the settings of this fast-paced story in which Jase and his best friend Danny, the heroes of the Cottonwood novels, are plagued by yet another passel of bad guys.

When the story opens, Danny has disappeared, along with a desperate German POW bent on making his way back to the Fatherland. With Danny as his hostage, he too falls victim to the wit and valor of the villain-vanquishing team from Riverton.

On their train trip to Nashville, our heroes are robbed but quickly identify the crook. Next, by capturing a nasty Nazi POW, they are awarded the Key to the City by Nashville’s mayor. This action opens the doors to the exciting sights and sounds of Nashville in 1945.

You’ll weep as Danny causes the accidental death of a dear friend. And you’ll marvel at how the duo deals with their first experience with racial segregation. And you’ll laugh aloud at the antics of Danny as his clairvoyance and intelligence bewilder pompous politicians and unfortunate criminals alike.

Gary Slaughter’s previous novels – Cottonwood Spring, Cottonwood Winter: A Christmas Story, Cottonwood Fall, and Cottonwood Summer – were named finalist
in six prestigious book awards for fiction writing in the categories of adult fiction and young-adult fiction. Based on early reviews, Cottonwood Summer '45 is his best work ever.

Readers are in for a special treat!

Just leave a comment if you want to enter...I will random.org a winner on Sunday!

Gotta Make...Gotta Have...Gotta Love...

Of course from Pinterest...these are called Dirty Pirate Popsicles...but they look like root beer ones to me! These come from a site called endless simmer.com.




Another gotta have from Pinterest...and a site called aroundthewall.com...a garden shed/hideaway?




Gotta love? This yummy flag thing from a site called Especially For You! I want it for our front door and it's on it's way!




And look at these...also from Pinterest...so easy to make...I think...the first one is just a way to wrap a gift!








My Caleb's Crossing giveaway ends tomorrow but I have a new book to give away then, too...so stay tuned!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My World Is All Lined Up!!! So Much For Wordless Wednesday...

My blog photos are all middled up again.
See...
I truly don't get Wordless Wednesday...it's usually when I have a lot to say!




I am still doing trip laundry and am now out of detergent.
This is the bin of fine washables.
It is all stuff that needs to be hung on hangers to dry.
Help!!!




I finally tried on all of my Maine dresses...they fit and are yummy. I called the store and bought two more. These are my favorites so far...








I am so behind on promised reviews that I am stressed. I love everything I am reading...one book is good...really good ...but I am not in the mood for it right now... I like it while I am reading it but I don't want to read it...does that make sense?

I thought not.




Reading this...kind of yummy...




Taking a dear friend to dinner tonight to thank her for watching Jake and Jack the amazing zebra finches...




I seriously think it will take us at least another week to get back to normal. I still have no groceries. You won't even believe what I am eating...we try to eat clean and organic but I am reduced to eating single items...blueberries for breakfast, frozen veggies for lunch, microwaveable brown rice for dinner. I can't even make pasta...with butter and cheese...because the stovetop is dead...Mark the Stove Top Guy will hopefully fix it tomorrow or declare it dead.




The trek to Whole Foods and the Farmer's Market...seems impossible today.

Right now I yearn for...

groceries
pasta
cucumbers
scrambled eggs
simmering sauce pots and
an absence of laundry!
But am I doing anything about anything?
Not yet...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

False Alarm!!!

Whew!!!

I fixed everything...short story...some setting deflated? Defaulted?

I hate it when the photos are not in the middle!!!

So does Lucy!!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Help!!!

I did not do one thing to change my blog. I didn't touch the way the pictures configure. I liked the way they just line up in the middle. It used to be perfect. It looks perfect when I am writing and putting my pictures up and then when my post is up...the photos are all wonky. I checked back in my last post and the pictures are even covering up my words!!!
Is this happening to anyone else?
Does anyone know what to do?
Will it go away?
Forgive me for these random photos...I am trying to see what is happening!!!




Is it because I write in between photos?




Am I putting up too many photos?




Did it just fix itself?




Am I losing it?

It's Tuesday...I Have A Little Surprise For You!!!

If you missed out on reading this book...I have a copy from the publisher to give away to you! To one of my lucky happy lovely readers! Rebecca Lang from Penguin/Viking will send it to you. The paperback version has just been released...perfect to tuck away into summer beach bags!
Just leave your email in the comments!!!
Easy peasy!!!



Loving this book...it's one of those books that you just want to read slowly...on an Adirondack chair or in a hammock...sort of Great Gatsbyish but in a current way...a wedding, dysfunction...oh my word...so much dysfunction...it's awesome. I love the way this book sort of glides and I love that the characters are so easy to remember in spite of their odd preppy ish names. So far there is Winn and Biddy and Dicky, Sr. and Oatsie and Mopsy and a Greyson and a Sterling or two...plus pitchers of secret recipe Bloody Mary's...and of course lobstahs!!! It's quite the yummy book.




And...
Lucy and I slept until ten this morning...I woke up to her little face on my pillow...
Den's bag is unpacked and his laundry is done...I have not even unzippered my bag and begun to attack it. The dining room table...usually uncluttered... is filled with purses, hats, books, and cameras.
The birds are still at my friend's house...and I cannot even see an end to trip laundry...why we pack so much is beyond me...and I did laundry there!
There is nothing much that is edible in our house...and did I mention earlier that my cooktop is broken? Since that entire island is being replaced and the cooktop is glass and flat...we have no clue whether to try to get it repaired or get a new one...
I have to say it is freeing to not have a cooktop except on Sunday when we were craving pasta and I got everything ready and then realized I could not boil water!
Do you unpack right away or are you a slow unpacker?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

All Jumbled Up?

I have no clue as to what is happening to my pictures...the ones that I put on my blog. They used to just be in a straight line and I would happily write above or below them...now without me changing anything they are still ordered but not in a straight line...
I do not get it at all...I think that both Blogger and WordPress have minds of their own and often do things to trip me up.
A few weeks ago I was getting email responses from every WP blog that I commented on and I never checked the box...and then I had to sign in to comment. And Blogger repeatedly changes the way I see my comments!
I have done nothing to cause any of this stuff to happen. I am innocent!
Books...delicious books...I am reading this one...it's all New Englandy...love it...island houses, shot gun wedding, mixed up dad, clubs, clicks, secrets, lots of ice clinking in glasses...very summery.




I now have these to choose from, too.














I am so close yet so far from NYC and BEA...I could hop on a train...the Acela...and be there in an hour. But I don't have a huge desire to do that...crowds, lines, the lure of finding out about new books...are both tempting and not so tempting. I am not a big fan of sharing a hotel room...I would have to have my own or bring Den. I like my own schedule. I like going out to dinner. I do not like crowds at all. I believe that I might go next year...just for a day...to see what it's like...I know I would probably change my mind if I had a first hand glimpse.
Oh...and I do not really get the armchair BEA thing, either. If I have learned one thing about blogging while I have been blogging it's this...I don't like having to do something...I am more of a meandering blogger...finding my own way and if that's blocked...meandering in another direction until it feels right.
Wow...that made tons of sense...




What are your thoughts about BEA?

Treasure? Loot? Stuff I Hauled Home From Maine!!!

Fish on a stick! Do not laugh...I love her!




White duck!




Two sea glass buttons...no idea why but they were so pretty! My sister Paula could knit me a lovely sweater to go around one of these and I would give her the other button!




Lobstah bookmarks!




Lobstah thank you card for my sister Paula! At the ready in case she knits me a sweater...lol.




One gauzy dress!




Second gauzy dress!




Third gauzy dress!




All my new gauzy dresses are summery and long and floaty and yummy and comfy!
Blue old jar...I filled it with my shells!




Whew...not bad, right?
Books...
Finished this and wrote a review in the car on the way home...




Still deciding what to read next...this?




or this?




Or perhaps maybe this?




By the way...Lucy and I are exhausted...Den is exhausted, too, but out mowing. Lucy and I are lounging in the family room. She talked so much on the way home yesterday that her little kitty voice is hoarse today!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad