anniversaries

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Some Sort of an Update








I haven't really felt like doing much lately, other than laying down & praying I won't throw up anymore (trust me when it's a 3 to 15 time a day occurrence you'd be doing the same thing). Thanks to my really fun diet which consists mostly of pretzels, french fries with extra salt, & Yellow Gatorade, as of this morning I'm 13 pounds less than when we started this party. Somehow everything must be redistributing to my stomach because it has definitely gotten bigger. No worries when it comes to the Little Critter, as I've heard my Dad tell many patients through the years, babies are like parasites & will take what they need regardless of how you're doing.




We had all sorts of fun stuff planned for this summer, but so far I've not been able to go anywhere... except on an occasional trip to the laundry room to throw another load in the washer and dryer (at least I don't hate it as much as I used to- it's hard to hate one of your only forms of activity). I also go over to my parents house every few days for a change of scenery. June 17th & 18th Jon had to go solo to his brother's wedding in Dallas, which made me very sad because I really wanted to be there with him. We were going to be going to my sister's in Charleston, SC tomorrow, & then all of the family drive up to Wake Forest, NC for another family friend's wedding, but I'm just not going to be able to do it.




That's enough of the boring-depressing stuff. There have been some really good things happen too. Our Pastor Gene Huntzinger had to leave town for 4 weeks due to meetings and other speaking engagements, and he asked my Dad to fill in on Father's Day. He was nervous about it because he's never been asked to fill in & give a sermon before. Here is the Link if anyone is interested in hearing his sermon. http://tpctexarkana.org/sermons.htm Just hit the media player next to June 19 Dr. Tom Wilson. He doesn't like public speaking, but I thought he did a very good job, and was so proud of him.





Another exciting thing that has happened is my dear friend Jean Houghton Beatty sent the Little Critter a Paddington Bear that has been in her office helping her write books, & waiting for just the right person to give him to. She got him a couple years ago in England when she went to visit her brother in the Lake District. He looks just like the one below.Jean is from Liverpool, but now lives in Charlotte, NC. If you've followed my blog for very long you will remember that I've written about her books. She is such a great author, and has just had her second book made available on Amazon Kindle. Which is really exciting because up until now, I've had one of the few copies of it that she wrote in for me, so NO way Jose' was I going to let someone take it out of my house to borrow because I didn't want to risk not getting it back. Her two books are Stoney Beck & Different Drummers. She expects Different Drummers will be available in paperback sometime next year. I read both books in only 2 days each. They're so good you won't want to put them down.




I had the Big Book of Paddington, but was disappointed to discover that the stories weren't in it, so Mom got this collection of 38 Paddington Stories for me to read to the Little Critter when it gets big enough for story time (which was always mine & my sister Jordan's favorite time)!




My Sister crocheted Little Critter a beautiful baby afghan. I was so excited when the package arrived. She also got the baby a sleeveless shark shirt for him or her to wear next summer for Shark Week. If you know my sister, then you know that Shark Week is a big deal. She even wrote a funny e-mail a couple years ago to the whole family to remind us of the up coming event. In case you didn't know Shark Week is always in July, so no you haven't missed out on it this year. If you want to get in on the action, turn your TVs to the Discovery Channel in a few days.




The best news is that last Thursday I was feeling good enough to get out of the house, so Mom went with me to Wal-mart & TJmaxx because I needed to get my sister & cousin Morgan something for their birthday. Mom got to feeling hungry, so we went through Chick fil A, this made us decide on the spur of the moment to run by Jon's store to take him some lunch. On the way down 40th, which has become a terribly busy street since there is so much construction on the main roads, I spotted what looked like a kitten in the middle of our lane. Several cars had already driven right over it, & it was hugging the ground. We couldn't stop until right after we went over it & the two cars behind us did as well. Mom pulled over & I got out of the car & retrieved her. She was paralyzed with fear. From there we went straight to the vet because I didn't know if she'd been hit by a car, and I figured it would be more humane for them to do it if she needed to be put down than for her to be killed in traffic. Thankfully, she was alright. She favors her back right leg, but it is getting stronger everyday. She's almost 6 weeks old, and is the sweetest, most loving little thing you've ever met. She's my Mom's new baby, and she has named her June Bug Cleaver Wilson ;)Yesterday while the housekeeper was at Mom's, June Bug came over & played at my house all day. She helped me fold clothes, and then fell asleep in the pile of clean socks. I can't tell you how much she has cheered me up.




My animals are all behaving very well, except Zipper who has been permanently banished to the big screened in porch over a week ago due to his very unsavory habit of urinating "outside the box." With a baby coming that is one thing that we can't deal with. We still love him, and he can come in from time to time as long has he's under constant supervision. No need to worry about him, he's always preferred it out on the porch, & he's as happy as a lark out there.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Woo It has been a Monday!

After hitting it hard, fast, and furious for the past 6 hours I have successfully worn myself out, but the house is sparkling! This involves dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, changing sheets (on our bed & the 3 couches the animals lay on), shampooing the TV room rug, emptying trash, and cleaning both bathrooms. Not just that, but I'm almost finished with all the laundry, I have made dinner, and I there is a cake in my oven making the house smell heavenly! I forget how good a cake makes your house smell! I don't make them often because we really don't need it, but today I decided to pull out all the stops. In case you're wondering what kind of cake I'm making it is going to be a Lime Jello Cake. Just the thought is making my stomach growl! Since my cake is still cooking, and I couldn't think of anything else I would want to show you a picture off I found a lime picture of tonight's dessert on the Internet The only difference is mine is not for St. Patty's day :)
I wish it wasn't so darn hot outside because now that I'm finished with almost all of the things I had planned to do I would like to go sit on my back porch swing and read while I let the dogs play. Unfortunately it is so hot and humid that when we went out a few minutes ago the dogs did what they needed to do, and immediately came trotting back to me with their tongues panting and begging to be let back in the nice cool house. I could totally sympathize with them, my shirt was beginning to stick to me, so back in the house we went. At the moment I am reading For the Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George, it is really good, but then again I loved the Inspector Lynley shows, and I've found the books to be even better than them. The only difference is I can't go along with the Author's description of Tommy Lynley because in my mind he is NOT a handsome blue eyed blond, he is the gorgeous Nathaniel Parker pure & simple.



Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Great Things

I have been meaning to post something, I've just not been able the past few days thanks to Winston and me getting sick. Yes the hot, sticky McNasty weather has taken its toll on us, or it has caused some sort of super bug to begin taking on both man and beast. I am home with my trusty bottles of Lysol, Tylenol, Phenergan, Nose spray, and Gatorade. Winston has a pile of puppy pharmaceuticals.
Before coming down with the mocus I did some abstract paintings over at my Mom's house. I'm almost finished with the 4th one, and they all are so completely different from what I usually do, but I had a lot of fun with it. I think Mom has done at least a dozen. I'm still a little OCD so the whole abstract looseness isn't coming so easy for me because I want things to look just so. I will take some pictures to show when I am able to emerge from my cave. You could say I'm trying to get in touch with my inner Warhol.





Remember a few posts back when I told you about the book Stoney Beck by Jean Beatty? Well she sent me a signed copy of her first book Different Drummers, which unfortunately is out of print for a little longer, but she is thinking it will be available again pretty soon at least on Amazon Kindle. All I can say is that you need to cross your fingers that it will back out soon because it is incredibly good. I think it is better than Stoney Beck, but that is just my opinion. It is about an English girl named Kathleen who has a whirlwind romance and marries an American GI after WW2. She comes to the U.S. on a ship all alone in order to begin their married life together when he receives his discharge from the army. That is all I'm going to tell you because it wouldn't be fair for me to divulge anything more. I had considered devoting an entire entry to telling you guys how great this book is, (It is definitely in my top 3!) but then I thought that wouldn't be fair to you guys since it isn't available yet. Don't worry, I'll make sure to sound the trumpet when it is. In the mean time... Go to http://www.amazon.com/ and get Stoney Beck. It's even available in paperback for those of you who haven't fallen in love with the Kindle idea yet. (If you don't love the Kindle it's just because you haven't tried it. I promise! If you don't believe me then I dare you to go to Target & play with one!) I am so excited to find an author with so much talent that hasn't made it mainstream yet (She should be at the top of Oprah's reading list or who ever else makes a list that people are actually interested in reading). Although we haven't met face-to-face, we've communicated online quite a bit, Jean is a lovely person, and I am happy to consider her one of my friends. Jean, I know you'll be reading this, and I bet you're surprised I was able to find a colored picture of you to post in my blog. I had to do a bit of internet combing ;)

Two other new favorite summer discoveries I've made this year are McDonald's new Fruit Smoothies. I love both the Strawberry Banana & The Wild Berry! They're also good for you.


I am also hooked on Moroccan Oil hair oil. It smells like heaven, and makes your hair look and feel so shiny! Just put a little bit on your hair when you get out of the shower, and it instantly absorbs. It also makes your hair dry faster. I don't know how, but it does.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

A MUST Read!



I am very excited about today's blog. One late evening early this week I was floating around in the swimming pool when I decided to just check Facebook on my phone. I had one new friend request from a woman named Jean Beatty, and I thought "Who is this? Do I know this person?" She had sent me a message stating that she was a new author, and had just recently published her second book. She had seen the authors and books I had listed among my favorites, and wanted to know if it would be too presumptuous of her to ask me to read her new book. Being the voracious book worm I am, I thought "Why not? If I don't like it, then it won't be a big deal, but you never know."

I have since communicated with Jean several times, and I asked for permission to write about her book on my blog. It is called Stoney Beck, by Jean Houghton-Beatty and you can purchase it on http://www.amazon.com/ in paperback or have it sent to your Kindle (if you have one) in a matter of minutes. I don't want to give anything about it away, but I will share with you the product description from amazon.

"When Jenny Robinson's father dies of Huntington's disease, she tells her mother she will never marry out of fear that she might have inherited the disease. Jenny's mother, filled with grief over her husband's death and guilt over secrets she never told her daughter, dies from an overdose of prescription pills. She leaves an unfinished note along with a snapshot of Jenny's biological father, a man she met in England's Lake District-that secret alone neither Jenny nor anyone in her family could have guessed. Jenny is led irresistibly from Charlotte, North Carolina to Stoney Beck, a village in Northwest England. In Stoney Beck, Jenny rents a cottage on the grounds of the Hare and Hounds Inn, the same cottage that her mother occupied when Jenny was conceived. On her first day, Jenny meets Biddy Biggerstaff who threatens to drive her away, saying that she knows who Jenny is, why she has come, and has even seen her photograph.Unforeseen connections leading to mortal danger-and romance- await Jenny in the quiet village of Stoney Beck."

The author Jean is from Liverpool England, but she now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her American husband. The book is one of the best I've picked up in a long time! Once you start reading it you won't want to put it down! I totally believe she has the potential to be as "big" as LaVyrle Spencer, Nicholas Sparks, or Rosamunde Pilcher. Her writing style will hook you in, and you won't want it to end! She is going to send me a copy of her first book Different Drummers. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it! It is currently out of print, but they will be printing more soon, and I'll be sure to let you know when it becomes available! :)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Sundays at Tiffany's



I decided to pry myself away from my Inspector Lynley books for a night and read Sundays at Tiffany's which I had downloaded to my Kindle one day when they were having a special. Kinda good, kinda strange, pretty much on par with The Time Traveler's wife, but instead she falls in love with her childhood imaginary friend who's kinda real, and kinda imaginary. He never ages. I guess the author thought "Hey if the whole father figure falling in love with the woman he watched grow up worked a hundred times before, maybe it'll work again." And ya wanna know what... It did. But it doesn't hurt that James Patterson's been crankin' out books like popcorn for years. I give it three out of five stars.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

"We Read to know we are not alone"










That is a quote who's originator is highly debatable. I think it is a most profound line because I love to read. I have both of my parents to thank for instilling that love in me. They would always let my sister and me stay up as late as we wanted when we were reading. I have been known to binge read from dinner 'til dawn the next day, and when I get a hold of a really good one I will read until I my eyes burn and everything starts getting blurry. Before anyone asks, the answere is NO I have not read all the Twilight books, I read the first couple of chapters because I had my Kindle send me a free preview, but I just couldn't really get into them. I guess I'm just not much of a fantasy meets reality sort of book worm. Here's a list of some of the best books I've read this past year:


Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See


The Reader by Bernhard Schlink


Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher


Betrayal of Trust by Laurie Garrett


The Invisible Cure by Helen Epstein


A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George


Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George


Well Schooled In Murder by Elizabeth George


A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George - Yes it is a series there are 14 in all so far, and I heart them! Almost finished with #4


The Choice by Nicholas Sparks


Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay



I also read Peony In Love by Lisa See which was very interesting, disturbing, and thought provoking. I'm not sure if I liked it or not... It caused me to have some really strange dreams, and several times Jon woke me because I was having nightmares. It is a ghost story, but it makes you think about how Chinese Buddhists used to treat women, and how they thought about the after life. I've never read anything quite like it.


There were also about 8 other books I read that I thought were duds, but who wants to talk about that?


So tell me, what have you read? Do you have any suggestions?
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