A Quick Library List

HiYa!!! I thought I'd share some of my favorites as of late from the library!  Instead of my normal "Literally on Hold at the Library" list, these have already been viewed and read and loved by me.  So here we go.

Stacey Little's "Southern Bite" Cookbook is wonderful.  I have to admit that I am a frequenter of his website recipes also!  I checked out his cookbook from the library (and also intend to buy it) and I am obviously not the only one because the pages are "literally" falling out!  I really like the Chicken and Dumplins Casserole, Smothered Pork Chops, and Old Fashioned Banana Pudding was made for Shaun's birthday last week and will be my go-to banana pudding recipe from now on!!

I'll take any book from Mary Emmerling!  I love her style and can spend LOTS of time thumbing through the pages of colorful pictures and stories in her books.

Where the Crawdads Sing.... I LOVED THIS BOOK!  My sister Mary Evelyn suggested that I read this one.  I was on the hold list at the library for three months!  It is truly a wonderful read!  I'm not telling you anything about it.... just read it!

As you know, I always like to have an "TV of DVD" series going in my kitchen.  Cheers has been the one for some time now.  I'm actually on season five right now.  The library lends them for 21 days per check-out so I can take my time with them. 

I just watched Death at a Funeral this week at the suggestion of my mother.  Let me say that this British comedy made me and Shaun both laugh out loud.  I watched it twice and enjoyed it and laughed both times.  Thanks Mom!

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Ah The Grand Budapest Hotel.  This is a coffee table book I can't wait to thumb through!

Pistol Annies… Interstate Gospel... been on the wait list for this cd for a while now.

Flavia De Luce and I have a long term relationship.  This is Alan Bradley's newest book and will probably take less time to read than the time I've been waiting on it!

Inheritance... I normally can't get into the majority of books on the best sellers list.  Judging the reviews I'm gonna give this one a good shot.

Riverdale... only because a character on a tv show I watch talks about this series.  I don't have a clue what it's about... I like it that way.

Girl, Wash Your Face..., my niece Lacey loved this one.  I've been on the hold list a couple of times.  Highly popular at the library.

Have a wonderful day!

whatcha readin?

Thought I quit reading did you?  Thought I stopped frequenting the library huh?  They wish!!!  The rates actually went down forty bucks for out-of-county members this past year!!  Who was excited??? me.

One of my January goals was to read two books for the month.  Well, it's January 17th and I've got 1 plus 1/4 down... 3/4 to go!  I visited the juvenile fiction section to do so but hey... whatever it takes.  I'm not a real fast reader unless it really peaks my interest.

I read The Uncommoners by Jennifer Bell.  I'll never look at a toilet brush the same.  Read it.  Super cute.  I'm now reading a compilation of short "peculiar" stories (picture of book below).  I also finally broke down and let myself buy Country Living... British Edition magazine a couple weeks ago... it's in the pics with all the post-it tabs sticking out.  Oh how I love this magazine.  So inspirational and dreamy.

ALSO! The Fairy Gardening book... I have very high hopes of turning most all of my potting this Spring and Summer into tiny worlds.  Why not?!?!  Especially my kitchen sink/potting station by the basement.  Why yes... it will have dishes and flowers that look like suds this year... thanks for asking!

And I still have flowers on my table... always.  The enamelware milk jug came from Uncle Randy.  It's one of my favorite things.

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Yay!!  A library list from Laurie!!!  I know that's what you're saying. 

Here's what's on hold at the library.... actually not true at all.

I already have the Alan Bradley book, the Marie Laveau and Joss Stone's album which I LOVE.  Oh and the final season of Girls and P&R season one.  Okay!!!  I only don't have Adele yet.  But I currently have them all but in my possession.  Truly.

Alan Bradley and the famous Flavia DeLuce.  I have been in love with this series since Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie when I blogged about it in 2012.  Just type in Bradley in the search on the right to see what I said about them all.  You may run into a post about Bradley tomatoes... just sayin.  This is his eighth book in the series.  I honestly have not read 7.5 but its a digital version that the library has and I don't have a kindle.  I'm more of a for real page turner anyway.  I'll get a hold of it one day.

I started watching Girls and few months ago and truthfully I didn't much care for it at first.  Millennials I thought.  Which is true.  But as I started following their lives from episode to episode I fell pretty hard.  I just finished the final season and can't believe it's over.  Six seasons.  It is HBO pals so beware if you don't like hearing the F word or seeing people's butts and boobs.  Lena Dunham is a genius and I would love to have a piece of her brain.

Adele 21.  I have a special place in my heart for Adele.  I mainly want to listen to these songs at home very loudly and anytime I want.

AND Joss Stone.  Can I say on the internet (uh yeah) that when I first heard her voice I would have put money on her being a much darker skinned individual.  She's white and I'm shocked.  I thought only a voice like that could belong to Aretha Franklin and Jennifer Hudson.  Dang.  I'm in awe and I love her.

Knowing that my seasoned love of Girls was about to be over I decided to look up a few TV on DVD shows that I've never really watched because seriously it is so much better without commercials.  I rarely watch normal TV.  Parks and Recreation I started Sunday and watched a couple of episodes.  It made me laugh a time or two.  I finished the season tonight after work and immediately got on the library's website to get the next two seasons.  It's not my all-time favorite but it'll do and it is funny which I like.

Oh VooDoo Dreams.  Even though this is mainly a fictional story... Marie Laveau was an actual person and the actual VooDoo Queen of New Orleans.  I don't mind whipping up a spell for fun every now and then but I ain't eatin no raw chicken heart.  Nu Uh.  I'll just read about it.  I think the story will be a tad fascinating.  I've read the first few pages and haven't forgotten a thing but have to finish my Flavia book first.

literally on hold at the library

Coming soon to a library shelf for me...

Well hello again!  I was just on the library website, making my requests, and thought... I used to share this stuff with my blog peeps. So I thought I would right now. 

Ghostland by Colin Dickey is a compilation of ghost stories so I've heard.  I am fourth on the list so it looks doubtful that I will get it before Halloween.

We were eating at Cracker Barrel the other day and I thumbed through Ree Drummond's cookbooks there.  So instead of buying it "yet" I will test drive it from the library.  I have loved her recipes and spunk for several years.  I'd love to see her cooking show but alas we don't have cable or fancy TV.  I'll just have to read all about it.

I have gotten hooked on M.C. Beaton's, Hamish Macbeth series... bigtime.  I first checked out "Death of a Witch" and luckily it kept my attention and I finished the book in a couple of weeks.  I like to take my time.  After I finished that one I checked out another one.  That one was Death of a Kingfisher.  I'm now on Death of a Scriptwriter and will pick up Death of a Nurse this week. 

When I was browsing for more Hamish Macbeth stories I noticed that they made a television series.  I have watched the first two seasons and will pick up the third series this week.  It is all based in a village in Scotland and the author does very well at writing in the accents.  I have found myself using words like "dinnae" and "thon".  If I start answering people with "aye" we might should worry.

Have a wonderful week!

literally on the library hold shelf

I haven't done one of these in a while.  Doesn't mean I stopped going to the library!  I haven't been much in to reading novels lately but yesterday I came across a list of books and picked a couple that the library had.  They aren't far, one in Madison and one in Inglewood, so maybe they will get here by Saturday when I go to yoga.  I haven't watched many movies since my Wes Anderson click... I'm still not over the Moonrise Kingdom movie and I've rented it three times.  I wanted to rent Raising Hope which is a TV on DVD thing but they don't have it.  I settled for My Name is Earl and also found a Carol Burnett dvd there.  Our new station on TV that airs older shows actually shows Carol Burnett reruns but it comes on pretty late.  The other book Pretty Happy by Kate Hudson I am hoping will be a "feel good" book.  I just love her... probably because of who her parents are but she is precious!  I have been on the wait list for this one for a good while but I'm now #1 next in line for it!  Have a good weekend!!!



Wes Anderson Flicks

I am stuck on Wes Anderson movies.  I have one that I kept from the library for two weeks and then turned around a week later and rented it again.  It all started with

 

that I rented last winter.  I remember Shaun and I both sitting on the edge of our seats through the whole movie.  I liked the settings and music and oddness of it and decided to look up other films that were made by Wes Anderson.  Now I have just gotten around to my movie list at the library and started renting some of them.  My very favorite is


 

This is the one I have watched probably nine or ten times.  It's due back tomorrow.

My next one that fascinated me is

 

.

 

This one is based on a classic children's book.  I watched the movie thinking that the characters and a lot of the movie was probably computerized.  It wasn't until I watched the extras at the end that I found out that they are all puppets and that each shot is made by slightly moving each puppet and taking shots.  The sets are miniature worlds.  I loved it even more!

 

I also watched

 

.

 

I thought this one was great too.  Shaun didn't much like it.  Sometimes I keep my odd movies to myself.  Bill Murray appears in a bunch of Wes Anderson movies.  Even in The Fantastic Mr. Fox although it's just his voice.  I liked the quirkiness of this film and especially the music which Billy Idol wrote for this movie.  Some of them were in French and would be in a scene where a crew member was singing and playing the guitar.

 

There was one that I couldn't get into.

I don't really know why.  Maybe it was my mood.  I may try it again one day.

 

Tomorrow I am picking up a couple more from the library that I've had brought in from all over Davidson County.  They are

 

 

and

 

 

It will be hard to beat the other ones I've seen.  Oh, also The Royal Tannenbaums was a Wes Anderson movie.  I saw it a long time ago back when I had cable. 

 

And there's my movie watching as of late.



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YES! Another library book post!!! 

I can feel that you are equally as excited as I am to see what I've got on hold at the library!  I don't blame you.  How else are you going to know what to pick up when you go?  I know I'm not the only library go-er.  There's other people in there every time I'm there.  This time I've been in the mood for a little murder mystery since Halloween is coming up AND I have a four wheeling trip coming up.  Not that I can read in the truck on the way there without getting nauseous or like we will have time for me to lie in the hammock at the beach cause duh!  We're not going to the beach.  We will be on the trails where no book should ever be!  Unless you call the trail map a book... then that's ok and much needed at times.  Nevertheless, I want a fun, fast, dolled up, chick flick kind of murder book and here are my four picks that I literally... wait for it... have on the hold shelf at the library.  Wow.. that literally came out of no where!  I am so making fun of myself in this post and need to stop!  I love sharing my library lists with you...  literally. 

 

 

Don't you just love my little witch trails!  I'm so witch crafty.  I know you also love how I get out of doing book reviews the correct way by sharing what's coming to me from the library that I haven't read yet.  You so often don't know if I liked the books or even looked at them.  And why, do you ask, do I need four murder mystery books at one time?  I reckon because I can and I have the fear that if I only get one I won't like it and wish I had gotten a different one that I could "get in to".  So, literally (here I go again) I have one book to read and three on back up... literally.  Makes total sense to me. 

 

literally

It seems nowadays and especially since I don't have my Fridays off anymore that I don't have as much time to library.  I have been skipping yoga on Saturdays it feels like every other week.  My holds have been put back on the shelf at times.  The library is closed on Sundays and during the week I just don't have the energy or interest to drive to Goodlettsville to pick up my stuff on the two days during the week that they are open past six.  But... with the new season almost upon us, seeing that October is already here, I have a totally different interest in what to order and pick up from my favorite free supply store... the library. 

This post is about a few of the items I have ordered for the kids at the day care.  I have plans for each one of these books that will include coloring and/or crafts to go with reading aloud.  I also have a few movies with some of their favorite characters.  I have already strung Halloween lights at the day care in two rooms and we've done a fall craft or two.

Here are a few titles of what our next week has in store for us... provided I don't flake out of going to the library.  I have good intentions this week of going!



literally on the library hold shelf

 

rethink: I have been waiting for my library to get this book for a long time it seems.  I actually haven't checked in a while to see if it was there.  Now that it is I am on a wait list. 

 

wild: I don't know much about this movie.  Only that I'd like to see it.  So it's waiting on me now.

 

the bee cottage story: One of two home interior books on my list right now.

 

the stuff of life: The other one.  Although I'm not really in to redecorating.  I haven't had much interest in that for a while.  I do however enjoy keeping up with styles and both of the design books I have here are 2015 and may have some great ideas.

 

the girl on the train: I admit I have already read this one.  To boot, I picked it up Tuesday night before yoga and read a few pages before going to bed.  Then wound up finishing it by noon on Thursday.  It completely captivated me.  I never read books that fast!  I guess I do now!  The story and the characters and the "up in the air" / "I don't know what's going to happen" feel of the book I loved. I truly enjoyed it and wanted it to last longer. 

salads

I have always been a salad lover but never really stuck to eating salads as a meal.  Lately, in an effort to get rid of what I call and am not afraid to admit "the winter beginnings of a beer gut" I have been eating fresh salads for lunch.  My lunch salad is lovely and contains only a little bit of dressing and no meat.  I have wanted to get Shaun on the salad wagon too, at least for some of our suppers, as he complains about the "BG" too... on himself... not me!  In an effort to do this I have tried to come up with salads that have meat added to them.  The problem I find is in the dressings.  Mexican or Tex-Mex salads are easy.. just throw on some salsa to counter act the dryness along with some chicken.  I love it but it will get old and you can't just throw ranch dressing on everything.  So I employ the help of my beloved library.  I found tons of books to grab online and have sent to my local library plus a few extras that had salad in the name and seemed fun enough to place on hold too!

 

Does this not sound like fun in a jar?!? 

And goodness knows I've got the jars to do it!

 

 

On the list for this one.  It's on order.

 

 

The thing I love about the warmer months is that it is never too late to throw some seeds in a pot of dirt and before you know it... fresh greens!

 

 

 

 

My spring mix growing at the day care.  Lovely to be able to snip a few leaves to go with my romaine for lunch.

Made into a healthy lunch for me.

 

Hey... here's an idea... check out a book from the library instead of staring at your phone or kindle or whatever you choose to stare at.  It will probably reduce your stress level not to mention get your eyes off of the blue glowing screen. 



literally on the library hold shelf

 

My library list today consists of a few finds and one old favorite.  The first one sparked my interest while reading a list in the New York Times on great gifts for college graduates.  I didn't feel that  my college graduating niece would be the slightest bit interested in this book but thought maybe I would.  I did read some reviews on Amazon and one said that cities are more big cites and not off the beaten path type stuff.  I don't know which I would be more interested in anyway.  I more like Waymore... drinking and dreamin, knowing damn well I won't go.  Until the Provost comes into play someday.  But then it will be campgrounds and such.

If you saw my post from Tuesday of this week then you know why I want the Tennessee wildflowers book.  I found a few new blooms in the woods this year that I've not seen before and am interested in finding out what they are.  

The Golden Girls I've seen bunches of times in the past.  Both when they were prime time and reruns on Lifetime.  Since we have an outside antenna for our television source and no cable or satellite to watch reruns, if they even still show them, I resort to my beloved library.  I have a tv in the kitchen that is not hooked up to the antenna but does have a dvd player so that's where I watch my old sitcoms and favorite movies over and over again.  I will switch it on in the mornings for a laugh while making coffee and cooking breakfast and in the evenings if Shaun is watching something in the living room that I'm not particularly interested in... which most of the time involves Dirty Harry or Burt Reynolds. He's old fashioned too... just in a different way.  I even sit on the countertop where my tv is in the kitchen to watch it and lately I've noticed that over the last six years I've worn the color off of the drawer handle by putting my foot on it.  

I have seen and loved the movie Practical Magic for many years but have never taken the time to read the book.  So often or maybe every time, the book is better than the movie and I am really hoping so in this case.  I adore the kitchen and plant room/conservatory in the house and hope to goodness the author explains these rooms in detail so my imagination can run wild with it.  Here is the movie version.

 

Gasp!  What I would give for that room.... and that enamelware bin under the table!

 And the kitchen...

 And let us not forget the outside of the beautiful Victorian home and the garden that surrounds it.  

OK.. enough day dreaming already!  I've got library books to pick up!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I plan on doing some reading in the Oasis! 

p.s. Practical Magic pictures found on pinterest

days of our day care

I truly love, as a hobby of mine, to peruse the internet looking for good books for children and go back and forth from websites to my library site, searching titles and authors and requesting the results to be brought to my library for my usual pick up on Saturdays after yoga.  I then have another slight hobby of going online again to find coloring pages to go along with the books that I read to the kids.  Coloring pages or activities keep us busy a little while longer after story time.  Especially on Mondays when it's time for our wormhole picture for the week.  I think I've explained my form of discipline I reverted to when time out stopped working.

Each week we have a coloring page on Monday, for each child, that gets put in their folder on the wall.  If a child misbehaves or gets time out or acts up when adults and parents arrive or uses bad language then I will ask them to go and get their picture and they get a "wormhole" or a hole punched in their picture which means that they don't get to choose a prize from the treat box at the end of the week.  If they do not have a wormhole in their picture then they get to choose something on the way out on the last day. 

This week we had a fun book called Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash.  A book which was right down my clothesline alley.  I pinned up a clothesline complete with sparkled clothespins over each folder for each child.  I then went online and found a simple picture of a sock and printed enough for each child to have one sock to color.  The kids we so excited to hang up their socks on the clothesline.  So far no one has a hole in their sock.  Hopefully it will stay that way.

Another day this week we read Harold and the Purple Crayon.  I dug out enough purple crayons, skinny ones for the older kids and little shorties for younger ones, and passed out white paper to each child when the story was over.  As they were sitting down they each asked me to flip through the pages to a certain scene they remember and wanted to draw like Harold did.  It was pretty fun and they were proud of their purple crayon drawings.

HERE is a direct to a preschool book search on goodreads.com.  Most of the time I put links on here for you to enjoy.  But a lot of times, especially with all the pc and internet trouble I have had lately, I find myself looking back and feeling safe that I have saved links here to refer back to.  Especially since I lost all of my browsing data and favorites more than once.

I also came across a really cute summer time backyard bingo, free printable that I quickly printed out two copies of and laminated.  Not real laminated... just the plastic overlay stuff.  HERE is the link to that.  You can play it with anyone I reckon!

literally on the library hold shelf

A list of random items I have requested from the library. 

I do hope you enjoy this series as much as I do!

Melanie Shankle's Sparkly Green Earrings first book came from an interest in her third book as reported by The Pioneer Woman as a friend of hers.  I figure she's good if PW likes her but really... .I have to be honest here.  When I requested the book from the library on a split second whim I didn't even look to see what the book was about which is musings from motherhood and sorts.  I seriously try to stay away from the motherhood subjects even when looking at blogs because I can't be a mother myself and it makes me feel sad and not included.  Then I think "well... you're a mother to the kids at the day care during the day" and it makes me feel better for a minute but really... I don't know if I will read this book once I get it just to avoid possible depression.  I really never know how my mind will react.  So this may be a book suggestion for someone else and not me.  Booo Hiss... I should have looked before I leaped.

And then..... From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman as a suggestion to go along with a craft for the day care that I found on a wonderful little blog called BuggyandBuddy.com.  The craft looks like this...

I know.... how cute if that AND it has a free printable for the center part!  I have cheap paper plates on my Walmart list for this week already and luckily one of the pick up parents here brought me a bag of craft supplies that has striped, thick pipe cleaners!  Oh what luck I have!!!

I found the cookbook Power Foods while searching for more Martha Stewart cookbooks and noticed that the forward is by Martha so it must be pretty good if she's endorsing it right?  I hope so.  I've been stuck on Martha cookbooks for a couple of weeks now and am at the end of the line of available books from her at the library sadly.

Dumb & Dumber To.... I have to admit that I have watched the first Dumb & Dumber movie a hundred times and laughed at all of them.  I even have a couple of funny lines I will pull out of my hat and use from time to time that came from the movie.  Shaun actually took me to see the second film over this past winter.  I think it's good to see a movie multiple times if it makes you laugh even once during it!  It's healthy to laugh, remember?!?!

And now on to the weekend!  Katie Bug and I are both getting our hair done today.  Mine colored and hers shaved off.  I think we would both say "glad it's her and not me"!  I think we have a bon fire tonight, with yoga and the library pick up of the above listed items tomorrow and in the mean time I plan on starting to pull out junk upon junk to put together a yard sale soon and totally plan to include some mushroom hunting in the woods.  Wish me luck!!  

What are your weekend plans?? No one ever answers my questions here so I can only imagine that you will all be having too much fun in the sun to tell your old internet buddy here!  Whatever you do... do it with love and kindness in your heart!  

literally on the library hold shelf

Fortunately and unfortunately I have a couple of kids headed to kindergarten in the fall of this year.  It makes me both sad and proud but it also makes me feel as if I have some sort of responsibility to do my part in helping prepare them as much as I can.  This should be a fun book to help with that and I love that Miss Bindergarten is a border collie like Katie Bug whom they know very well.

Spring is upon us and if the weather will ever clear up enough for us to take a good walk when they are all here we will have a discovery stroll looking around us to finds signs of spring right around us.  

We are still stuck on Mo Willems.  I try to include one at least one book of his every week.  They are easy to find a good coloring page online and the books makes the kids laugh which I adore both.

We have been eating healthier and cutting out sweets whenever we can here at the day care.  Shaun couldn't believe, when he was here during snack time the other day, that the kids were asking for more cut carrots.  It's funny that the foods they at one time turned their noses up to are now their favorites.  I hope even if they choose a junk food path for themselves that they always remember the healthy stuff too.  I am excited to read The Food Parade and plan to maybe have coloring pages of different foods to have our own food parade.

Lego DC on dvd.  This is for the older boys.  As much as I try to keep their minds off of weapons and violence... they are still boys (as Shaun pointed out to me).  I have one day a week where I only have the older boys and I reckon this will be the day next week that I allow them to watch a movie like this.  They have all seen it before but will love seeing it again.  I like to make the day with the bigger kids special and still let them be who they are. 

Looks like it's going to be an exciting week here next week! 

Especially when Mrs Laurie comes up with activities to go along with these books!

I'd better get to work!

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I love putting together my library lists and sharing them with you!  I am constantly around the web looking for new books that interest me and requesting them from my library.  

I have been on the list for The Blender Girl by Tess Masters for weeks now.  I adore my Vitamix and having a good smoothie for breakfast and am always looking for variations and new combinations to try.  This book also promises meals and desserts!  Only eleven people in front of me in line to get it now!

One of my very favorite and go to baking cookbooks is Back in the Day Bakery cookbook by Cheryl and Griffith Day from their bakery in Georgia.  This is their newest cookbook and I can't wait to get my hands on it!  I'm second in line with this one but the library doesn't actually have it yet.  If they order more than one copy I will be sure to get a brand spanking new on to look at!  Woo Hoo!

I have been a big fan of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley.  He puts out a new book in this series each January.  This is the newest one and I actually got it faster than I thought.  I read it in about ten days which is fast for me.  It says something about a fast and easy read if I take it to the day care and opt for reading instead of internet surfing during nap time.  I really enjoyed this book just as much as the others.

The Book of Life on dvd is on hold at the request of one of my kiddos at the library.  I will be picking it up for nap time watching next week. 

And a few pictures of books that I like.

Photo found on: http://frommoontomoon.blogspot.co.uk/                       

Books from our outing at Miss Lucille's.

Found on flickr.com   

This is my cookbook collection before I moved residence and decided I had too many.

        

Happy Birthday Marty!!